A paedophile ring involved in the abuse of at least 546 boys from six schools has been discovered in Afghanistan's Logar province. Some of the victims of the abuse have since been murdered according to the campaigners who first discovered videos of abuse posted to a Facebook page. Civil society organisation, The Logar Youth, Social and Civil Institution, which has been working in the region for 16 years, revealed the extent of the abuse after discovering more than 100 videos on the social media site. The institution is investigating other high schools in the region, believing thousands more children may have been abused. Mohammed Mussa, a lead social worker at the institution, alleges that teachers, headteachers and local authority officials are implicated in the abuse ring. According to Mussa, some of the teachers were reported to the police but were released shortly after and have not been charged. The rapists are teachers, older students, authority figures and even extended family members," he said. He and his team have received death threats since exposing the abuse. He added that many of the abused boys have also been threatened. "Many of the victims are blackmailed. They are forced to sell drugs or engage in illegal activities in exchange for their rape videos to not be released," Mussa said. Patricia Gossman ... at Human Rights Watch, added: "There is impunity for child rape because very often the perpetrators are powerful men in the military, police, or other official institutions."
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