An Afghan migrant who raped multiple young boys and girls in France has defended his abuse as ‘normal’ practice in Afghanistan.
Mohammed Rahman Arsala, 32, migrated to Saint-Brieuc in France in 2018 where he committed several offences. Last year, he was imprisoned for 15 years for sodomizing a 12 year-old boy.
Last week, he was dragged back to the courts once more. He was brought to answer additional offences against children.
In July, 2021 the court heard how Arsala followed a teenage boy after he alighted a bus. He grabbed and led him to an abandoned warehouse where he attacjed him in 2018.
After he returned the boy to the park, a group of girls who saw the distressed look on the boy’s face called the police and he was arrested later that day.
The defence lawyer asked the judge to factor in the ‘cultural element’ of the court case. He said that it was a common practice for men to sodomize underage boys in Afghanistan.
‘In my country, it is normal to have sexual relations with young boys because women are inaccessible. When I arrived in France I did not know your laws, but since I learned that it was prohibited’ the defendant told the court.
In Afghanistan, the practice of Bacha Bazi is illegal but those who engage in it go unpunished including many powerful officials.
Prosecutors said that: ‘He tells us that if he had been married, that would never have happened because he would have had a wife to satisfy his needs… But does he, therefore, see others only as objects?’
Before the sodomy of the 12-year-old boy, the sex pest also harassed two teenage girls.
In April 2018, he approached one girl claiming that he needed coaching to mend his broken English. He lured her to his room and locked the room.
The victim reported that: ‘He slammed me against the wall holding me down with his knee, he was way too strong, I was trying to resist, but I couldn’t get away, he was trying to kiss me and tear my clothes off, I was terrified, he ended up telling me that if I wanted to leave I had to touch his penis.
‘When I told him I would call the police, he immediately opened the door.’
Days later he was rushed to hospital over attempted suicide which happens five other times.
Arsala told court that: ‘I wanted to touch her a little, but she wouldn’t. If she was a decent girl, she wouldn’t have come up to my room.’
After one month, another underage girl filed a complaint with the police stating that he had pleaded with her to have sex with him.
She added that: ‘He was insistent and pursued me, I was very scared, I warned my parents who called the police.’
Arsala was jailed for another three years for the two sexual attacks targeting young girls. While extending his prison sentence to 18 years, the judge noted that the man will be deported after serving the sentence.
The rapist has also been accused of snapping photos of young children at school while other reported of having seen him engaging in masturbation on a beach.
While in prison, Arsala sexually harassed a female nurse and as a result he was moved to another prison where he also sexually harassed an inmate.
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