Malaysian
authorities rescued more than 400 children on Wednesday suspected of being
sexually abused at charity homes run by a prominent Islamic business organisation
with links to a banned religious sect, the top police official said.
Police
arrested 171 adults, including 'ustazs' or Islamic religious teachers, during
coordinated raids on 20 premises across two Malaysian states, Inspector-General
of Police Razarudin Husain said.
Those
rescued included 201 boys and 201 girls, aged between one and 17, after reports
were filed this month that alleged neglect, abuse, sexual harassment and
molestation, Razarudin told a press conference. He did not say who wrote the reports.
The homes
were all run by Global Ikhwan Services and Business (GISB), Razarudin said.
In a
statement late Wednesday, GISB denied the sexual abuse allegations and said it
did not manage the charity homes. "It is not in our policy to plan and
carry out actions that are against Islamic and national laws," the company
said, adding that it would file a police report and demand an investigation.
GISB,
involved in businesses ranging from supermarkets to laundromats, operates in
multiple countries, including Indonesia, Singapore, Egypt, Saudi Arabia,
France, Australia and Thailand, according to its website.
Razarudin
said preliminary police investigations had found that the rescued minors were
children of Malaysian GISB employees, who were sent to the homes shortly after
they were born, before being subjected to multiple forms of abuse.
The victims
were allegedly sodomised by adult guardians and later taught to sodomise other
children at the homes, he said.
GISB has
been linked to
the now-defunct Malaysia-based Al-Arqam religious sect, which was banned by the
government in 1994. GISB has acknowledged the link but now describes itself as
an Islamic conglomerate based on Muslim practices.
The firm
previously made headlines for establishing the controversial Obedient
Wives' Club, a group that had called on women to submit to their
husbands "like prostitutes".
The children
will be sent for health screening and documentation, Razarudin said, adding
that the case was being investigated under laws covering sexual offences
against children and human trafficking.
"The
children and religious sentiments were also used to gain public sympathy and
raise funds for the organisation," he said. "What we have seen is the
indoctrination of children using religious tools in a harmful way."