Tourism Malaysia official in Sweden Azizul Raheem Awalludin, who was jailed in that country for beating his children, was to be released from prison at 5pm (Malaysian time) today.

This was confirmed by Deputy Foreign Minister Hamzah Zainuddin when contacted by Bernama today.

“Officials from Wisma Putra and the Tourism Ministry will bring Azizul back to our embassy there. At the same time, we have also applied for Azizul to visit Shalwati (his wife) as soon as possible.

“This is because Azizul is expected to return to Malaysia on July 15,” he said.

Azizul Raheem was imprisoned since September 2010 for beating his four children and had served his sentence in Sweden for three months on March 28.

The Solna District Court in Stockholm, Sweden imposed a jail sentence of 10 months on Azizul Raheem and 14 months on his wife, Shalwati Norshal for the offence.

However, the court reduced the jail sentence when both of them were required to serve only one-third of their sentences.

Shalwati, a teacher who is on no-pay leave, would only be released in three months’ time.

The couple’s four children, who were initially placed under the care of non-Muslim foster parents following the case, had been handed over to the Malaysian Embassy in Stockholm on Jan 30.

The children returned to Malaysia on Jan 31 and were now under the care of their aunt and uncle in Kelantan.

Hamzah said the case did not affect bilateral ties between Malaysia and Sweden and cooperation had in fact been closer between the two countries.

- Bernama