Quebec police search warrants have been issued in relation
to allegations that members of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect inflicted
psychological and physical abuse on teenaged girls.
The abuses allegedly took place in the Lev Tahor 'Jewish
Taliban' sect that settled in Quebec and Ontario. Details of the warrants were
made public following media requests.
Prosecutors ordered that 14 children in the community be
moved to temporary foster care because of allegations of neglect and abuse.
About 200 members of the sect fled Quebec in November before the court order
was executed.
According to the documents, girls as young as 13 were
imprisoned in basements and girls aged 14-15 were married to old men in the
group. One woman said she was struck with a belt and a coat hanger and a
pregnant 17-year-old girl said she was beaten by her brother, sexually abused
by her father and married by force to a 30-year-old man when she was 15.
Many of the children were drugged, said the court documents.
The Jewish Taliban nickname was given because of the way
members dress and because of the sect's anti-Zionist attitude. They are led by
Rabbi Shlomo Helbrans, who was convicted in 1994 on charges of conspiracy to
kidnap after he tried to convert a teenage boy.
Children were also taken from their biological parents,
according to the documents: "There are about 20-30 children who have
changed families. [A person who spoke to authorities] said that some children
adapt well and return to their families but that others are upset, cry a
lot," the warrant application said.
Others witnesses came forward with claims of assault and
beatings with sticks, crowbars, whips and belts. One woman said she was hit in
the face because she did not want to wear the burqa-like dress for women.
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