[NYPOST] An Indonesian court handed down a death sentence on Monday to a teacher for raping 13 girls at an Islamic school, upholding an appeal by prosecutors for the death penalty after he had initially received a sentence of life in prison.The case of teacher Herry Wirawan has shocked Indonesia and shone a spotlight on the need to protect children from sexual violence in the country’s religious boarding schools.
After he was sentenced to life in jail by a court in the city of Bandung in February, prosecutors who had called for the death penalty filed an appeal.
“(We) hereby punish the defendant with the death penalty,” the judge said in a statement on Monday posted on the Bandung High Court’s website.
Ira Mambo, Herry’s lawyer, declined to comment on whether there would be an appeal, citing a need to see the full ruling from the court.