They joined forces to investigate the allegations of sexual assault against the principal and became a couple on the path to justice.
- Author, Endang Nurdin, Rebecca Henschke
- Role, BBC Eye Investigation
- Published
- Reading time: 5 minutes
[Note: This report contains content about sexual assault and may cause distress to readers.]
The sound on the other end of the phone made Yusron Azzahidi's heart suddenly sink.
Previously, his sister had sent him a short message, urgently asking him to call back. But the one who answered wasn't his sister, but Yusron's former principal. The principal was at Yusron's home at that time.
"I know. I completely know what he wants to talk about," Yusron said.
Ahmad Imanuddin Sumar, known to the students as "Abah" (meaning "father"), was always respected. He was a respected leader of an Islamic boarding school in Lombok, Indonesia.
Abah discovered that Yusron and several former classmates were gathering testimonies from several students who accused him of sexual assault.
The Indonesian National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) described the issue of sexual assault in Islamic boarding schools as a national emergency. However, legal experts said that many cases never entered judicial proceedings because victims were persuaded to withdraw their accusations or remained silent under pressure.
Now, Abah made such a request to Yusron over the phone.
"Cover up this ugly matter for your teacher. Children, everyone makes mistakes," he cried.
He did not realize that Yusron had recorded every word he said.
Yusron began investigating Abah a year ago, prompted by something a former classmate, Ziadatur Rahmah, revealed to him one night.
Both were outstanding students at Abu Barokat School in Lombok. Later, they went to university; Yusron was in the capital, Jakarta, and Ziadatur was in Cairo, Egypt. The two began reminiscing about their school days over the phone.
Ziadatur's friends called her Zia. One night, she told Yusron that Abah had sexually assaulted her when she was sixteen.
She said that during a class, when she needed to go to the restroom, Abah stopped her in the school garden and asked her to come to his residence on campus.
She told Yusron that after entering the room, Abah told her he loved her.
"He pulled me down, made me sit on his lap... then he kissed me... he touched my body," she later recounted to the BBC International Department (BBC World Service). She said that Abah also asked her to touch him in the same way.
She said that fortunately, at that time, one of Abah's children started forcefully knocking on the locked door. Abah signaled her to leave, and she immediately fled through the back door. This experience deeply affected her.
"I felt dirty, ruined, and lost my way."
After hearing Zia's story, Yusron was unsure what to do. Their school always instilled the saying: "Sami'na wa ata'na. (We obey, we submit.)"
He could not stop thinking about this matter.
So, he proposed to gather evidence with Zia and her classmates Wanda Hamidah and Mahima Eka to support Zia's testimony.
As they contacted their former classmates one by one, the memories of others slowly surfaced. They shared the information they found on WhatsApp.
One of the most important clues came from one of Wanda's friends. She remembered seeing a younger girl crying in the school restroom late one night during graduation year. Abah was looking for her, his face flushed and panting.
The girl's name was Sukma Rohana, who was still a student at that time. She told the BBC about her experience.
Sukma told them that when she was seventeen, Abah had invited her to participate in New Year prayers with him. After entering Abah's residence, he covered her mouth with his hand, told her to lie down, and undressed her from the waist down.
"He kept saying that he could no longer control himself," Sukma said.
"He touched me through my underwear... he tried to rape me."
She said that she found the strength to kick his abdomen forcefully and escape. During the escape, she saw Abah holding a flashlight, searching for her.
As this evidence gradually emerged, Yusron took charge of organizing it, including following up with the students who made the accusations and carefully recording every piece of information.
He compiled a seven-page document listing the sexual assault allegations made by Sukma, Zia, and four other students.
Wanda arranged for them to meet with representatives from the Nahdlatul Wathan Diniyah Islamiyah (NWDI). This was a powerful organization responsible for managing the schools they attended and hundreds of other schools, and also funding some students to study in Cairo.
These friends told them that the meeting proceeded smoothly. The NWDI representatives stated that they would help them hand the case over to the police for handling.
However, three weeks later, Yusron received an unsettling message from his sister. When he called back, he discovered Abah was answering the phone at his own home. This is when he understood that the documents written by the NWDI had been given to Abah by him.
"If this matter becomes known to the media... I'm finished," Yusron heard Abah say in the call recording.
Abah begged Yusron to lie for him and proposed a series of statements that Yusron could use to refute his statements in the evidence file.
Then, he contacted Zia again, pressuring her in a similar way. Like Yusron, Zia also recorded the call. In the recording, Abah admitted to having sexually assaulted her but begged her to remain silent.
Sukma told them that she was called to Abah's house, and upon arrival, she found two police officers and an NWDI lawyer waiting for her. She said they forced her to sign a document claiming that all her accusations were lies.
Her statement was corroborated by a secret recording. Afterward, when she questioned Abah's wife, Hurmiati, she secretly recorded the conversation.
In the recording, Hurmiati asked her to abide by the "agreement" of both parties, meaning to admit that nothing had happened. She also said, "Do you want this to haunt you for your whole life? Do you want it to affect your marriage chances in the future?"
This pressure even extended to Yusron's parents. Abah demanded they fly to Jakarta to find Yusron at university.
They did not find him because he was hiding in a hotel at the time. However, this experience overwhelmed Yusron's mother. She told her son that this pressure was torturing her to death.
So, Yusron reluctantly stopped the investigation.
At the same time, his relationship with Zia gradually became closer. Their friendship developed into a long-distance romance, and they often talked on the phone.
"I can see she is really suffering... She would say things like: 'Why do I keep thinking about what (Abah) did to me?'"
Yusron found himself in a dilemma. On one hand, he wanted to help the girl he was gradually falling for; on the other hand, he had promised his mother not to interfere anymore.
Eight months later, Yusron heard that a group was raising public awareness about the issue of sexual assault in Islamic schools.
This group was founded by a young woman named Ayu Masruroh. One of her friends had been sexually assaulted by a teacher, Moch Subchi Azal Tsani, in another school, and she had helped her friend seek justice.
She actively posted on social media, urging victims to come forward and speak out.
This inspired Zia to post on Instagram, calling for any Indonesian students who had suffered assault to contact her.
She then discovered that despite Abah repeatedly denying and promising to change, he seemed to have assaulted students again.
A woman from the school Zia attended contacted her, stating that she had also been sexually exploited by Abah. It was said that this happened about a year after Abah promised to change to Zia and Yusron.
"This made me realize that (Abah) never truly changed... What he said before, what he promised to stop... it was all lies," Zia said.
Yusron's parents finally agreed that he should help Zia and Sukma continue pursuing justice.
However, this time, they decided to take a different approach. They contacted Ayu, and Ayu's opinion was clear: find a lawyer.
She introduced them to a lawyer who had experience with sexual assault survivors. The lawyer believed that Sukma's case evidence was the strongest for bringing charges.
They contacted Abah and Hurmiati regarding the related allegations, but they received no response.
The NWDI stated that they are currently conducting an internal investigation into the related allegations and deny any attempt to cover up sexual assault allegations.
The organization stated that it "has a responsibility to protect the organization and prevent its reputation from being damaged by actions of individuals."
Sukma reported Abah to the police in February of last year. She is still waiting for the police to take action, and Abah is still in office.
"I don't want what happened to me to happen to other students. I want justice," she told the BBC.
However, this investigation also made the relationship between Zia and Yusron even closer.
Two years ago, three years after they exchanged messages and calls, Yusron decided to move to Cairo and live with Zia.
"I am exhausted. Life in Jakarta was very stressful because I was dealing with police cases. So when I saw Zia... it was like taking medicine, and I felt completely better," Yusron told the BBC.
Zia said she was so happy that she "started talking non-stop."
"At that time I knew he was serious. He came all the way to Egypt for me. I trusted him. That's why I was with him."
This trust stemmed partly from their shared experience in pursuing justice.
Last month, they got married.
Their lawyer, Joko Jumadi, said he was impressed by the courage and meticulousness shown by these students in gathering evidence.
He told us that the recordings they secretly obtained recorded in real-time how the victims were pressured, asked to remain silent, and therefore have great value.
"The recordings mention multiple victims, and the perpetrators themselves admitted it. This is crucial evidence," he said.
Over the past three years, Joko and his team have handled 20 cases of sexual assault in Islamic boarding schools in West Nusa Tenggara province. He believes that these cases "are just the tip of the iceberg."
The original article was written in English; we used artificial intelligence to assist with the translation, and BBC reporters reviewed it before publication. Learn more about how we use artificial intelligence.