Thursday, July 31, 2008

A Slap On The Wrist For The Islamic Saudi Academy

From this July 30, 2008 article in the Washington Post:
The director general of a controversial private Islamic school in Fairfax County has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of failing to report child abuse and was fined $500.

Abdalla I.M. Al-Shabnan, head of the Islamic Saudi Academy on Route 1 in the Mount Vernon area, was arrested last month by Fairfax police after allegedly being informed of the possible sexual abuse of a 5-year-old student at the school. School authorities are required by law to report alleged child abuse within 72 hours.

Al-Shabnan was charged with misdemeanor counts of failing to report child abuse and obstruction of justice. In a plea agreement, Al-Shabnan pleaded guilty July 24 to the failure to report charge and Fairfax prosecutors agreed to dismiss the obstruction charge, according to court records.

Al-Shabnan did not return a phone message today seeking comment. His attorney, Robert C. Whitestone, also did not respond to a request for comment.
Whitestone is one of the premier defense attorneys in Fairfax County. As a local here in Northern Virginia, I well know the reputation of that particular legal firm. They are masters of plea bargaining and the attorneys' attorneys! And their fees match their skills, too.

Continuing now with the WaPo article:
Cultural differences may have led to the episode which resulted in Al-Shabnan's arrest.

[...]

Chief Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Ian M. Rodway said the plea agreement "was satisfactory to all the people involved in the case."
Rodway used to be a defense attorney - and a formidable one, at that. Still, I wonder how he would explain those aforementioned "cultural differences."

The case of Abdulla Al-Shabnan was supposed to come before the court on August 1. That won't happen now, of course.

(Crossposted to Northern Virginiastan)

7 comments:

Natasha said...

Wasn't it 'child sexual abuse' in fact,

a molestation or rape of a child from what I read?

Pastorius said...

Cultural differences. A penis is thrust into the vagina of a little girl and the Washington Post chalks it up to "Cultural differences."

That's some newspaper.

The MSM wonders why they are dying of long, slow, pancreatic cancer?

Always On Watch said...

A five-year-old girl reported to her ISA teacher that he father was molesting her. By Virginia law, the school's director should have reported the child's accusation to the authorities, whether or not the accusation has merit.

Pastorius said...

Ah, then maybe the penis didn't actually enter the vagina. Maybe it just rubbed between the thights as Mo commanded.

christian soldier said...

I'm waiting for the out-rage:

5-4-3-2-1 Nada-None -

small fine for not reporting child-rape.

Oh wait--it has to do with Saudi and et al $$$$ and the religion of peace...

Why am I NOT surprised!!!

Anonymous said...

Oh the ick factor in Islam. This is a very bad precedent. It only codifies sharia in this country. Rape, as it occurs rampantly in Islamic countries and honor killings which usually follow are going to be culturally sensitized and police will be discouraged from investigating crimes committed in largely populated Muslim areas of the country. This is happening in New Jersey and Dearborn, too.

Gayle said...

$500 fine for molesting a child??? People get bigger traffic tickets than that, Always! The people who seem to think molesting a child is no big deal are going to find themselves seriously overheated someday!