Students expose abuse at Indonesian boarding school and find love
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In Indonesia, Yusron Azzahidi and Ziadatur Rahmah, former students at the Abu Barokat Islamic boarding school on Lombok island, joined forces to investigate allegations of sexual abuse against their former headmaster, Ahmad Imanuddin Sumar, known as Abah.
Ziadatur initially shared with Yusron that Abah had sexually assaulted her when she was sixteen, intercepting her on the way to the bathroom and making unwanted advances.
As Yusron and Ziadatur spoke with other former classmates, more students came forward with similar accusations of abuse by Abah. They compiled a seven-page document detailing the alleged abuses, and presented it to representatives of Nahdlatul Wathan Diniyah Islamiyah (NWDI), the organization that oversaw the school, hoping for support. However, NWDI instead shared the document with Abah, who then contacted Yusron and Ziadatur, attempting to pressure them into retracting their statements and offering false alibis.
He even contacted Yusron’s parents, seeking to intimidate him into stopping the investigation. Despite the pressure, Yusron and Ziadatur continued their work, eventually connecting with Ayu Masruroh, an activist working to raise awareness about sexual abuse in Islamic schools, and a lawyer specializing in representing abuse victims. They filed a police report on behalf of another student, Sukma Rohana, who also alleged abuse by Abah, but are still awaiting action on the case.
Through their shared struggle for justice, Yusron and Ziadatur developed a relationship and married last month.
