Claims of torture against Faderhuset sect in Denmark

Politiken.dk - Denmark
October 22, 2008

Former members of the Faderhuset sect speak of physical and psychological torture training of children down to the age of 10.

edited by Julian Isherwood

Ruth Evensen of the Faderhuset sect. The sect is alleged to have subjected children down to the age of ten to physical and psychological torture. - Foto: Jacob Ehrbahn

Children of the Faderhuset religious sect have been trained to withstand torture in order that they could preach the gospel in Muslim countries, according to Samuel Hesselberg, who was a sect member for seven years.

Handle tortureCamps were designed to prepare children for their role as evangelists according to Hesselberg.

"We wanted to prepare them for torture. Children down to the age of 10 have been through this military camp. We had direct torture in which they were trained to handle physical pain and psychological torture," Hesselberg tells Kristeligt Dagblad.

Hesselberg, who claims to have been one of the leaders of the camps, says they were the experience that he regrets most from his time at Faderhuset.

Hit by Evensen's husbandOther former members of the sect have also spoken of abuse.

Music Teacher Niels Eric Werner entered the Faderhuset sect for a short period last year and met several children he felt had been abused.

"One child, who was eight or nine at the time, was locked away in a room for three days. On another occasion the child was hit by Ruth Evensen's husband Knut Evensen and came to me to ask if I could help report the case to the police," says Werner.

ExorcismThe association for children's conditions Foreningen Børn Vilkår says it has received information over the past year that gives cause for concern about conditions for 44 sect children. The information suggests that they have been subject to neglect and abuse.

"The problem is much greater than we had imagined. What was explained to us was children who were physically and psychologically punished and subjected to things like exorcism," says Bente Boserup of Børns Vilkår.

Defended FaderhusetBørns Vilkår was wary of the fact that information about Faderhuset could have been given as revenge on the part of those who left the organisation, but found quite the opposite.

"There was a tendency to play down rather than exaggerate and they defended Faderhuset. It was not revenge, as they would have made it much more dramatic. These were also people who recounted the same things independent of each other," says Boserup.

Faderhuset has declined to comment on the allegations.

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http://politiken.dk/newsinenglish/article585770.ece