A Muslim father in Melbourne, Australia says his daughter was left with “psychological trauma” after being shown a “blasphemous” cartoon of Muhammad during a high school class.
Posting on social media, the father said the incident occurred at a Melbourne college last month during a media studies class, where the teacher played a video showing “banned, explicit and blasphemous cartoon material developed somewhere in Europe against our Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)”.
According to the Herald Sun, the offending cartoon is believed to be a Charlie Hebdo front page from 2015, which sparked a terrorist shooting massacre at the French satirical magazine’s Paris headquarters that left 12 dead and 11 injured.
The Melbourne father said the material shown to the class on Friday, October 14 depicted “two men acting out doing ‘things’ to each other, and one of them was shown to be the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)”.
“As per the Religious Discrimination Bill 2021, it is clearly an act of religious discrimination,” he wrote.
“My daughter also tried to express her discomfort at the video but unfortunately the teacher didn’t care and continued to play the video, forcing my child to view that content. Forcing a child to view content is illegal and against the law. This has aggravated my child and my family’s sentiments in a painful manner and has put us in a painful psychological and mental trauma.”
It’s understood that the image shown was one of a series of examples used in a lesson on hybridized media and its effects on social media and the audience.
The teacher cautioned the class that potentially “confronting” content would be presented and advised students they were free to remove themselves if they wished.
The Muslim student raised objections to the material but did not leave the class and the teacher continued.
Now the father has demanded a formal apology and explanation, and an assurance that “such kind of events should not take place in any institutions” in the future.
“We also demand that the teacher should be suspended from the school and an inquiry should be conducted against him,” he wrote.
“Finally, we demand equal time. To cover the damage done by [the teacher], we demand that the school invites a Muslim scholar who will explain the personality and status of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) to the school and especially the class of year 11, where this totally unacceptable content was displayed. We will take this further if our concerns are not met.”
It’s understood the school has reached out to the concerned family and is offering support to the affected student.
Victoria’s Department of Education and Training (DET) confirmed it was “reviewing this incident”.
“Once the review is completed and the department has consulted with community groups a decision will be made as to whether any extra advice should be provided to schools in relation to similar sensitive issues,” a spokesman said.
“Full support is being provided to any student that has been affected.”
The DET declined to say whether any support was being provided to the teacher.
In a statement last week, the Islamic Council of Victoria, Australia said “many in the Muslim community are now aware of the concerning incident” which had “caused serious distress to a Muslim student”.
The ICV said the school’s principal met with the father late last month to discuss the issue.
Also present at the meeting was “a representative from the ICV’s Islamophobia Support Service attended this meeting as well as a DET representative, a lawyer acting as a support person for the father, and other supporters of the family”.
“A number of actions came out of the meeting including a commitment from the school not to teach this offensive material again,” it said.
“There are ongoing discussions with the school in relation to the conduct of the teacher in question, the request for a public apology from the school, and an opportunity to talk to the school community about Islam and our beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW).”
The ICV added that it was “seeking to urgently confirm whether this offensive content is a standard part of the DET curriculum and if so, we will ask DET to immediately withdraw this content and commit to ensuring that this or similar material is not taught as part of the standard curriculum at any public school”.
It’s understood that the material is not part of the required curriculum teaching in Victorian government schools.
“As Australians, we believe that it is very reasonable to expect that the material taught in our schools does not seriously offend members of different communities and is cognisant of Australia’s multi-faith and multicultural diversity,” the ICV said.
The showing of Charlie Hebdo cartoons in classrooms has previously sparked violent backlash.
In 2020, French high school teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded in the street by a Chechen terrorist after showing students the Charlie Hebdo Muhammad cartoons.
“Samuel had angered parents by showing a picture of a nude Prophet Muhammad to kids in his freedom of expression class, and there had been threats against him,” a colleague said at the time.
Days later the 47-year-old was stabbed to death and beheaded on the street by 18-year-old Russian national Abdullakh Anzorov.
The horrific killing sparked widespread protests in France, with President Emmanuel Macron launching a renewed crackdown on radical Islam and Prophet Muhammad cartoons displayed across the country in solidarity with Mr. Paty.
That in turn sparked further attacks, with a woman beheaded — one of three killed — during a bloody rampage inside Nice’s Basilica of Notre Dame by a Tunisian-born knifeman.
