School principal on trial for pencil-stabbing in Qatar

A Qatar school principal will go on trial next month to face assault charges after she stabbed a second grade student with a sharp pencil on his hand, arm and back. The public prosecutor said that the woman had deliberately attacked a young student and decided to transfer her case to the court that set the start of the trial for mid-March, Qatari Arabic daily Al Sharq reported on Sunday. According to the boy's parents who are suing the school, the principal in December attacked their son, claiming that she wanted to "re-educate" him and that experiencing pain was the best way to improve his behaviour. "It all started when my son and a classmate had a small fight," the mother said, quoted by the Qatari daily. "The next day, my son was called in the principal's office. When he got there, she took out a pencil, sharpened it, took my son's right hand and started stabbing it until he started bleeding," she said. Even though the boy, who was not named, burst into tears and pleaded with her to let him go, the principal continued the stabbing, she said. "She told my son that she wanted him to feel the pain in order not to get into a fight with your classmate again. And when a teacher wanted to wipe the blood off his hand and arm, the principal refused. She then ordered him to stand against the wall and she stabbed him three times on the back until he fell from the pain and the screams. She kept telling him that she would re-educate him," the mother said. The student who was not sent to the school clinic reported the incident to his parents upon returning home. "When my husband phoned the school, the principal told him that she was convinced that she did the right thing arguably because it is the only way that is good for our son and that she uses violent ways with her little son as well. We took our son to the doctor and to the police," the mother said. The daily said that the principal had not been dismissed or suspended.