Munib Farhat, 56, suspected of imposing strict disciplinary code on 11 adults, 25 children • Cult leader allegedly forced parents to beat their children, withhold food and smear them with fecal matter • Affair exposed after woman files police complaint.
The details of a shocking child abuse scandal began to emerge on Tuesday in the Galilee town of Majd al-Krum when a Nazareth court lifted the gag order on the affair, which apparently has been going on for ten years.
Munib Farhat, a 56-year-old resident of Majd al-Krum, is suspected of heading a cult and enforcing his will on six families in his community, including dozens of children. The police suspect Farhat of forcing the members of his cult to beat their children, humiliate them, withhold food, lock them in bathrooms and smear them with fecal matter. The cult leader is also suspected of abusing the women in the cult, committing sexual assault and sodomizing them.
The affair was exposed when a woman who belonged to the cult filed a police complaint several weeks ago. A team of investigators consequently launched an undercover probe into the woman's allegations, in cooperation with Welfare Ministry social workers and Interior Ministry officials. The investigation, which was accompanied by the Haifa District Prosecutor's Office, revealed that Farhat, who refers to himself as a caliph, allegedly imposed a very strict disciplinary code on 11 adults and 25 children.
In his remand hearing, Farhat denied the allegations and argued that the complainant was seeking revenge against him for being kicked out of the compound.
The chief investigator, Superintendent Eyal Harari, said that the cult did not share a house, but instead lived in houses scattered across the town. "His method was to cozy up to weak, poor families and strike a relationship based on support and fear, to the point of complete dependence and a real fear of leaving the cult," Harari explained.
The police said further that the suspect habitually locked women up when he was not satisfied with their cleaning duties.
Harari called on anyone who had previously been in the cult and had left to come in and testify. "When the suspect was apprehended, many people applauded us and said that it was about time that someone put a stop to what was happening within this group."
The Welfare Ministry reported that "with the suspect's arrest, the children have been transferred to the care of investigators who specialize in children, and each family has been assigned an intervention and support team, which includes social workers. This was done to calm fears and to determine the families' specific needs."
