Official finding Islamic institutions and contexts Quranic-school and daara systems Sudan (national) · 2020

Sudan: BBC/ARIJ undercover investigation exposes systemic chaining, beating and sexual abuse in Quranic khalwas; government pledges prosecutions

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Pending matter

Allegations are attributed to the cited proceeding. No finding of guilt has been made.

Latest cited disposition: A BBC News Arabic/ARIJ undercover investigation, filmed secretly across 23 khalwas over 18 months by reporter Fateh Al-Rahman Al-Hamdani (himself a former khalwa student), documented children as young as five being routinely chained, shackled, beaten and starved by sheikhs across Sudan's more than 30,000 khalwas, alongside evidence of sexual abuse by those running the schools and by older students. Following broadcast, Sudan's Minister for Religious Affairs, Nasreddine Mufreh, publicly pledged there would be no more beating, torture or rights violations in khalwas and said the government would prosecute the schools filmed by the BBC. A December 2020 BBC follow-up found implementation had been slow.
Cited sources last retrieved: 2026-07-27

Record class

Context only

Evidence status

Active investigation

Authority role

sheikhs operating khalwa Quranic schools across Sudan

Organization

Sudan Ministry of Religious Affairs and Endowments

Archive classification

This is the archive's application of its published inclusion test. The cited record appears below.

The abuse was carried out by sheikhs under their claimed religious authority as Quranic instructors, using children's obligation to memorize the Qur'an as the pretext for chaining and beating.

Pastoral or clerical authority
Institutional obedience or isolation

Evidence structure

Proceedings

2020-10-20 · official-finding / government reform pledge

Government of Sudan, Ministry of Religious Affairs (response to BBC News Arabic/Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism investigation). A BBC News Arabic/ARIJ undercover investigation, filmed secretly across 23 khalwas over 18 months by reporter Fateh Al-Rahman Al-Hamdani (himself a former khalwa student), documented children as young as five being routinely chained, shackled, beaten and starved by sheikhs across Sudan's more than 30,000 khalwas, alongside evidence of sexual abuse by those running the schools and by older students. Following broadcast, Sudan's Minister for Religious Affairs, Nasreddine Mufreh, publicly pledged there would be no more beating, torture or rights violations in khalwas and said the government would prosecute the schools filmed by the BBC. A December 2020 BBC follow-up found implementation had been slow.

Documented coercion mechanisms

claimed Quranic-instruction authority
chaining and shackling of children for failure to memorize the Qur'an accurately
beating and starvation as discipline

Cited record

Sources

international press investigative report Middle East Eye, 'Sudan's religious schools accused of routinely abusing students'.: Reports the BBC/ARIJ investigation's findings of chaining, beating, starvation and sexual abuse across Sudanese khalwas.
trade press methodology report Global Investigative Journalism Network, 'Undercover in the Sudanese Schools That Chain Boys'.: Details the 18-month undercover methodology and the government's public response pledging prosecutions.

Source provenance

Source access and integrity log

This log records source retrieval and file integrity. It does not mean that an automated process independently confirmed every statement in the source.

Source and tier basis: https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/sudan-widespread-abuse-islamic-schools-khalwa Corpus classification: international-press; evidentiary role: investigative-report. SHA-256 9cbf13fc04c76fd7cb88296db230845d76cc7939e289ffc117c5ca2c5caaba0d
Retrieval: 2026-07-27 · Preserved; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger
Source and tier basis: https://gijn.org/stories/undercover-in-the-sudanese-schools-that-chain-boys/ Corpus classification: trade-press; evidentiary role: methodology-report.
Retrieval: 2026-07-27 · Retrieval failed; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger

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