A teacher convicted of sexually assaulting a student at one of Indonesia’s most prominent Islamic boarding schools has been quietly released from prison months before his sentence was due to end, an undercover BBC investigation has revealed. Moch Subchi Azal Tsani, known widely as Bechi, served fewer than half of a seven-year sentence before authorities sanctioned his departure from custody in August 2025. The disclosure has ignited fierce debate over the rule of law in a nation where the influence of religious figures often operates above scrutiny, and where victims say the justice system has failed them at every turn.
A Case That Shook a Nation
Bechi’s arrest in 2022 sent shockwaves across Indonesia, a country where millions of families entrust their children to Islamic boarding schools each year. Police deployed nearly 1,000 officers during a gruelling 15-hour standat the Shiddiqiyyah school in East Java, as hundreds of Bechi’s supporters formed human barricades to prevent his detention. His father, the revered Kiai Muchtar Mu’thi, is a figure of enormous spiritual and political clout, whose teachings blend Islamic scholarship with strident Indonesian nationalism.
Bechi was ultimately sentenced to seven years behind bars after being found guilty of sexual assault. Prosecutors had pushed for the maximum penalty of 16 years for rape, but the court cleared him of that more serious charge. The conviction was secured largely on the testimony of a single former student, whose identity has remained protected throughout proceedings.
Yet the case did not end with the verdict. The government revoked the school’s operating licence, only for then-President Joko Widodo to step in and order it reopened, arguing the misconduct reflected the actions of one individual rather than the institution itself. That decision, critics argue, set the tone for what was to follow.
Behind Closed Doors: The Voices They Silenced
Long before Bechi’s early release came to light, other students had attempted to speak out. Ira Puspitasari, who waived her right to anonymity to tell her story publicly for the first time, says she endured four years of rape and abuse beginning at the age of 15. She describes being told by Bechi that she was his slave, being tracked down by his private security when she tried to flee, and being dragged to a remote hut where she was tortured and assaulted. After reporting the abuse to police, she says she was intimidated into retracting her statement. An audio recording she shared with the BBC captures Bechi’s mother telling her that nothing had happened and urging her to drop the case.
Ira was not alone. Ayu Masuroh, a former student who says she was never personally abused by Bechi, began gathering testimonies from at least ten other female students after hearing their accounts from classmates. Several described Bechi selecting them as though they were chosen, and one recounted being raped following what Bechi framed as a private interview. These claims were raised during closed-door court proceedings but never resulted in separate criminal charges.
Nun Sayuti, a lawyer who once represented the school, testified that Bechi directly ordered him to suppress the allegations when they first surfaced. Reflecting on his decision to investigate independently, Nun said he came to understand he was defending the wrong side. Before leaving the institution, he secretly recorded Bechi boasting: “In my position, I can have my way with anyone I want.”
A Release in Secret, a Justice System in Question
Undercover BBC reporters documented Bechi appearing in public on multiple occasions after his release, smiling and greeting supporters at prayer gatherings. In one instance at the Shiddiqiyyah school in March this year, filming and photography were abruptly prohibited — a striking departure from previous years. In another, reporters captured him at an Eid celebration held at his family’s residence, which sits within the same compound as the school.
Indonesia’s Ministry of Immigration and Corrections confirmed to the BBC that Bechi was freed in August 2025 on the basis of sentence remissions granted under applicable regulations, but declined to explain why his punishment had been shortened. Under normal circumstances, Bechi would have become eligible for parole around March 2027, with his full sentence expiring in 2029.
The students who gave evidence at his trial — including the woman whose testimony led to his conviction — were placed under witness protection and are legally entitled to be notified of his release. None were told. Ira and another former student said they learned of Bechi’s freedom only through the BBC’s undercover footage. The ministry argues that notification is unnecessary because Bechi remains on parole, but Indonesia’s witness protection agency has disputed that interpretation, insisting the victims must still be informed.
Political Influence and Institutional Silence
Bechi’s family has long cultivated relationships with Indonesia’s political elite. Joko Widodo visited the Shiddiqiyyah complex during his 2014 presidential campaign, and his successor, Prabowo Subianto, followed suit five years later. Indonesia’s national police chief met with Kiai Muchtar Mu’thi as recently as August of last year, expressing a desire to strengthen ties with the school and its vast network of followers.
Ira says it was precisely this web of influence that convinced her to abandon her allegations. She describes receiving death threats from Bechi’s supporters and being summoned with her father to a hotel near the school in June 2018, where she came face to face with Bechi’s mother. The encounter, she says, left her terrified and coerced into signing a retraction she now deeply regrets.
Now she watches footage of a free Bechi and speaks of a system that has betrayed her. “It’s like nothing ever happened,” she says, her voice breaking. “It feels as if he has won and I’ve lost.”
Why it Matters
Indonesia’s National Commission on Violence against Women has described sexual abuse in Islamic boarding schools as an “emergency,” warning that the cases which have come to light in recent years may represent only the tip of the iceberg. Bechi’s secret release is not merely a procedural irregularity — it is a systemic failure that exposes how religious authority, political power, and institutional complacency can converge to erase accountability. Victims who summon the courage to report abuse are met with intimidation, their legal protections rendered meaningless by forces far more powerful than the courts meant to uphold them. Until Indonesia confronts the structures that allow figures like Bechi to walk free, the cycle of silence and suffering will continue unchecked, and the most vulnerable members of society will remain precisely where those who harm them want them: voiceless and unprotected.