Janitor receives 572-year jail sentence for abusing 18 children in Turkey

A Janitor was sentenced to 572 years in jail for sexually abusing 18 children in the student lodging of a religious secondary school in Turkey. (Photo courtesy: Hurriyet)
Updated 28 February 2018
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Janitor receives 572-year jail sentence for abusing 18 children in Turkey

A Janitor was sentenced to 572 years in jail for sexually abusing 18 children in the student lodging of a religious secondary school in Turkey, national media reported.
Mehmet Sait Guler, started working as a janitor at the school in the south-eastern province of Adiyaman in 2012. He lived in the accommodation of the school with students between November 2013 and February 2015.
During this period, Guler shared a dormitory with the students - even though this was not allowed according to official regulations – where he sexually abused and raped a number of boys.
In February 2015 he took a number of children to his home and raped them. The court also heard he exposed the children to pornographic material.
The prosecutor demanded a 572-year jail sentence for him on several charges including sexually abusing children, bodily harm and blackmailing.
In another incident earlier this month, a four-year-old girl was raped in Turkey. Amid national outrage over the case, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the “harshest penalties” would be applied in such cases.
 
 


Two dead in Israeli strikes on Lebanon

Updated 49 min 19 sec ago
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Two dead in Israeli strikes on Lebanon

  • Israel has kept up regular strikes in Lebanon despite the November 2024 truce that sought to end more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah

SIDON, Lebanon: Israeli strikes in south Lebanon killed two people on Wednesday, authorities said, as Israel said it targeted operatives from militant group Hezbollah.
Israel has kept up regular strikes in Lebanon despite the November 2024 truce that sought to end more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah, usually saying it is targeting members of the Iran-backed group or its infrastructure.
The health ministry said that an “Israeli enemy strike... on a vehicle in the town of Zahrani in the Sidon district killed one person,” referring to an area far from the Israeli border.
An AFP correspondent saw a charred car on a main road with debris strewn across the area and emergency workers in attendance.
Later, the ministry said another strike targeting a vehicle in the town of Bazuriyeh in the Tyre district killed one person.
Israel said it struck operatives from the militant group in both areas, saying the raids came “in response to Hezbollah’s repeated violations of the ceasefire understandings.”
This month, Lebanon’s army said it had completed the first phase of its plan to disarm the group, covering the area south of the Litani river, around 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border.
The strike in Zahrani on Wednesday was north of the Litani.
Israel, which accuses Hezbollah of rearming, has criticized the army’s progress as insufficient, while Hezbollah has rejected calls to surrender its weapons.
More than 350 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon since the ceasefire, according to an AFP tally of health ministry reports.