Court allows Loh to reunite with her three children

 

Single mother Loh Siew Hong has succeeded in her legal bid to quash the illegal detention of her three children who had been unilaterally converted to Islam.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court today allowed the habeas corpus application by the woman of Buddhist faith against the Social Welfare Department and a religious preacher who took care of the children at one point.

The order was issued following submissions earlier this morning from Loh's lawyer A Srimurugan and lawyer Aidil Khalid, who represents the preacher in question, Nazirah Nanthakumari Abdullah. 

Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah said an earlier court order dated March 31, 2021, which granted sole custody of the children to Loh should not be treated with impunity on pain of contempt of court.

“The sole issue in this application is whether the applicant (Loh) is entitled to habeas corpus of her three children currently under the care of the Welfare Department.

“Pursuant to the High Court order of March 31, 2021, the applicant was granted sole custody and control (of the three children) to the applicant. That court order still stands and is valid.

“There is also an interim ex-parte order of Dec 20, 2019, that granted sole custody, care and control to the applicant. I allow the writ of habeas corpus,” Sequerah ruled during open-court proceedings.

“The three children are to be released forthwith to the sole custody, care and control of the applicant (Loh),” he added.

Loh Siew Hong with her children

Mother and children reunited

Loh was seeking to be reunited with her three children - two twins aged 14 and a 10-year-old boy - in court. The three children were in a witness room adjacent to the High Court while the mother was in open court.

When met by the media after the proceedings, lawyer Shamsher Singh Thind - who is part of Loh's legal team - confirmed that she had been reunited with her children.

The lawyer said that Loh was signing some paperwork before she and her three children would leave the Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex.

It is understood that they have since left the court together sometime after midday today.

Loh contended that her three children were abducted from her while she was recuperating from injuries inflicted by her former spouse Nagahswaran Muniandy in 2019.

Nagahswaran, who is in jail on drug-related charges, unilaterally converted the three children to Islam without her knowledge and consent.

She had obtained full custody of her children in December last year and was briefly reunited with them on Feb 14 in Perlis.

The children were then placed under the care of the Welfare Department pending the habeas corpus application’s hearing scheduled today.

Loh was also previously reported to file a separate court action to nullify the Islamic conversion of her three children. - Mkini