Gouda mosque bans city councilor suspected of child sex abuse

Khalid T., PvdA city councilor in Gouda and director of Islamic primary school An Noer, was arrested last week on suspicion of sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl. Mosque Nour in Gouda is shocked by his arrest and decided that T. is no longer welcome in the mosque, the mosque chairman said to the Telegraaf.

"Khalid is still a suspect, but he is no longer welcome here", the chairman of the mosque said to the newspaper. "If he still comes in, I'll say that he has to leave, or we'll call the police. We are very shocked by this."

According to Omroep West, the 13-year-old girl's parents reported the abuse to the police in August. An investigation was launched, and T. was arrested last week Monday.

The Public Prosecutor confirmed to RTL Nieuws that the 32-year-old school director was arrested and is in custody. The victim was not a student at An Noer and there is no evidence that T. also abused kids at the school, the Prosecutor said.

A board member of An Noer told the broadcaster that the school is shocked by the arrest. The school sent out a letter to inform parents and students about what happened.

The PvdA also revoked Khalid T.'s membership, the party announced in a statement. "The faction of the PvdA Gouda has with astonishment taken note of the arrest of K.T. For the faction it is very clear that given the seriousness of the situation, K.T. can no longer be part of the faction. The national party management took note of the situation and decided to withdraw K.T.'s membership", the statement read.

The chairman of Mosque Nour emphasized that no sexual abuse happened at the mosque, and that Khalid T. only occasionally visited the mosque, mostly during Ramadan. "The mosque is only for praying. Nothing happened here. We do not want anything to do with this", he said to the Telegraaf.