School expelled Muslim boy for urinating on the Bible

Expelled Muslim boy's father blames school

Cameron Stewart
December 08, 2006

THE father of a Muslim boy expelled for urinating on the Bible, burning pages from it then spitting on it has lashed out at the school, saying it failed to protect and control his son.

And the accused boy, 13-year-old Ibrahim Cukovic, has spoken out for the first time, saying he regretted his involvement in the incident, although he claimed it was another boy who urinated on the Bible.

"It was a real bad thing that happened," he said in an interview with The Australian at his house in Fawkner, in Melbourne's north. "My parents always teach me to respect other religions."

Ibrahim, who has remained at his home since being expelled last week, appeared sullen and withdrawn as he spoke about the incident, which has shocked the nation's Muslim community.

Another student has been expelled and a third suspended from the East Preston Islamic College over the incident.

"It has been difficult for me because I am putting the family under pressure and I feel bad," Ibrahim said.

When asked why the boys chose to desecrate the Bible, Ibrahim shrugged his shoulders and said he did not know.

But his father, Omar, was angry at the school, which he said had failed to properly supervise the boys on a rural school camp last week where the incident occurred.

In disgust, he has withdrawn all of his five children who attend the college and says they will no longer go to an Islamic school.

"I do blame the school because they should have looked after them better and supervised them more - they let those boys run amok," he said.

"My children are my responsibility when they are at home with us, but once they get on a school bus they are the school's responsibility." Omar said news of his son's involvement in the desecration had devastated the family.

"It was the last thing I expected in my life with my own children," he said, throwing his hands in the air.

"As parents we definitely have to share the blame, but what children do behind our backs we don't always know. When I heard about it I felt like a ton of bricks fell on my head. I hope he has learned a valuable lesson - and the school, too."

EPIC principal Shaheem Doutie said the school community was shocked by the desecration and said the college placed great emphasis on religious tolerance.

However, as revealed in The Australian yesterday, the school's library contained a video of a banned cleric calling Australian Christians "evil" and non-Muslim schools "sewers".

Although the radical tape, of Abdur Raheem Green, has been shown to some students at the school, Ibrahim said he had not seen it.

Omar, a retired taxi-driver of Albanian origin, said that although his family were Muslim, they had a Bible in their house and that his six children were taught to respect all religions.

"The Bible is also God's revelation, the Old Testament, the New Testament, and if you abuse these books as a Muslim, you are out of Islam," he said.

"I was taught that we are all the same - brothers and sisters in humanity."

A school report into the incident said Ibrahim was the "main perpetrator" of the desecration, and that he urinated on the bible, burnt pages from it and then spat on it.

Ibrahim disputes this.