Two more teachers have allegedly been suspended after a teacher was put on administrative leave for showing cartoons of the Muslim prophet Mohammed to his pupils during a lesson on blasphemy.
The headmaster of Batley Grammar School had announced last week that the 29-year-old religious education (RE) teacher was suspended and made a grovelling apology to the Muslim community over the lesson.
Sources at the West Yorkshire, England, school speaking to MailOnline claim that two other teachers have also been suspended because they were “aware” that the “offensive material” was going to be used, bringing the number of educators being investigated over the use of a Mohammed cartoon in class to at least three.
The insiders confirmed the image was from the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which was the target of a radical Islamic terror attack which left 17 people dead in 2015.
The sources told the Daily Mail‘s online news arm that the lessons on blasphemy had used images before, but the school administration had not authorised the use of that image for use in the RE lesson. They said: “Two other teachers are also being investigated but the school has been trying to keep it secret because they don’t want attention being drawn to the fact that this went beyond the actions of one person.
“They were not in the class at [the] time but were aware that offensive material was going to be used, it is claimed.”
One Muslim pupil had been offended, resulting in their parents complaining, according to the news site.
Following the protests, and a local charity exposing the RE teacher’s identity online, the 29-year-old, who has four young children with his domestic partner, was reportedly forced to go into hiding and is under police protection.
England’s Archbishop Defends Free Speech After Mohammed Cartoons Protests https://t.co/GcMBfdLphg
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 31, 2021
His father told media that his son feared he would meet the same fate as Samuel Paty, the teacher in France who was beheaded by a radical Islamist refugee for showing Charlie Hebdo caricatures of Mohammed to his class during a lesson on freedom of expression.
“He is worried that he and his family are all going to be killed,” the father told MailOnline.
“He knows that he’s not going to be able to return to work or live in Batley. It’s just going to be too dangerous for him and his family.”
He continued: “Look what happened to the teacher in France who was killed for doing the same thing. Eventually they will get my son and he knows this. His whole world has been turned upside down. He’s devastated and crushed.
“When he starts speaking, he just breaks down and cries. He’s become an emotional wreck.”
This week, the trust that runs the Batley school announced that it would conduct an independent investigation into how “the materials [which caused offence] were used, and to make recommendations in relation to the Religious Studies curriculum so that the appropriate lessons can be learned and action taken, where necessary”.
Muslims have been protesting outside the school, in defiance of the coronavirus regulations, since the controversy broke.
A British teacher who showed his class cartoons of the Muslim prophet Mohammed has reportedly been moved to a safe location and is under police protection. https://t.co/cmeSC5fKUR
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) March 26, 2021
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