THE High Court today allowed single mother Loh Siew Hong’s bid for habeas corpus to recover the custody of her three children, which in effect, quashed the illegal detention of her three children who had been unilaterally converted to Islam.
Justice Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah reminded all quarters that the earlier court orders which granted sole custody of the children to Loh were still in effect, and should not be treated with impunity or risk being in contempt of court.
“The three children are to be released forthwith to the sole custody, care and control of the applicant (Loh),” Free Malaysia Today reported Sequerah as saying during today’s open-court proceedings.
Last week, Loh was reunited with her three children who were held by the Perlis religious authority following intervention from the police.
However, Loh decided to allow the Perlis Welfare Department to take care of her children temporarily pending the outcome of a habeas corpus application, adding her kids were traumatised and were worried that their father may harm himself if they followed her home.
While the welfare department agreed to allow her daily visits, they later started imposing various restrictions on her visit citing COVID-19 restrictions.
However, it was later revealed that while Loh had restricted access to her own children despite the court orders granted in 2019 and last year, Perlis mufti Datuk Seri Asri Zainal Abidin was allowed to meet them.
Legal matter, not religious
On that note, Loh’s counsel, A Srimurugan told the court that her case was a “sad” one as she had been separated from her kids following abuse from her ex-husband.
“This is a mother in distress. At this moment, she cannot go one centimetre near her children. It is pure inhuman treatment,” he said, pointing to the children, who were present in the witnesses’ room.
He also affirmed that Loh’s case “has nothing to do with religion” and was unsure on why certain quarters were bent on keeping her children illegally.
Lawyer Aidil Khalid, appearing for Hidayah Centre Foundation operator Nazirah Nanthakumari who had cared for the children in Loh’s absence, said that Loh’s habaes corpus application – naming the preacher as the co-respondent – was academic as the children were no longer with her.
“In her affidavit, she stated how she came to know the (whereabouts of the) children. She does not have custody and control of them as she only met the children during school holidays.
“When the father went missing, Nazirah took care of them. We can’t say she held the children illegally,” Aidil noted.
He also agreed that this was not a case linked to religion.
“But I want to set the record straight for Nazirah as applicant claimed there were attempts to change the religion of her children.
“They were said to have converted sometime in July 2020 but the applicant obtained full custody of her children’s last year, which Nazirah was not aware of,” he remarked. – Feb 21, 2022
