From The Waltham Forest Guardian

A RELIGIOUS leader has been jailed for punching and kicking a nine-year-old boy, then beating him with a bamboo stick. Gulam Hussain, 44, of Knotts Green Road, in Leyton, was jailed for 12 weeks today at Walthamstow Magistrates' Court after pleading guilty to common assault by beating. 

The court heard that Hussain, who was an Imam at The Jamia Mosque in Lea Bridge Road, Leyton, had previously been cautioned in 2005 for a charge of actual bodily harm (ABH) against an 11-year-old.

Chair magistrate Dr Paul Davis told Hussain through an Urdu interpreter that he was being jailed, “for the protection of the public”. Hussain's mitigation was that “cultural differences” meant he had not realised the beating was wrong.  So he has been in England since 2005 or earlier and still needs an interpreter. And he was cautioned for a previous incident, from which caution he apparently learnt nothing. Deport him.

Rosalind Fox, prosecuting, told the court that Hussain punished the child because he had been misbehaving.  She said: “The defendant punched the boy on the shoulder and kicked him on the leg with the flat of his foot. The victim said he cried to get the defendant to stop.” In relation to the second incident, she told the court: “The defendant took a bamboo stick and told him to sit on the floor, then he hit his bare feet several times causing reddening on the feet, which made it painful to walk.”

Victoria Burgess, defending, told the magistrates that the parents of the victim had given the defendant permission to punish their son in this way, so he didn't know it was wrong. Miss Burgess presented letters of support from mosque members to the Magistrates.

Chair magistrate Dr Paul Davis “We regard both offences as so serious, only a custodial sentence is appropriate. They happened on two separate occasions and the vulnerable victim was punched, kicked and beaten with a bamboo stick . . . The sentence is imposed for the protection of the community.”

Lea Bridge Road Mosque has featured on the New English Review before. On the same site is the PO Box which did duty as the postal address for Islam 4 UK and the premises of the Active Change Foundation where Islam 4 UK  meetings and lectures were held.