Loh opposes Perlis govt's review bid in her childrens' conversion case

Single mother Loh Siew Hong has filed an affidavit opposing the Perlis state government’s application for a review of the Federal Court’s ruling regarding the religious status of her three children.

Loh’s lawyer A Srimurugan confirmed to Bernama that the affidavit was filed today.

On Oct 30, the Perlis government filed the review application with the Federal Court, requesting the top court to set aside its previous decision which denied the “leave to appeal” applications filed by the state government and three other parties.

The state government stated that the prior Federal Court panel’s decision had severely compromised their right to be heard and that they are seeking a rehearing of the “leave to appeal” application.

The application was dismissed on May 14, preventing the applicants, including Perlis Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council (Maips), the Perlis State Registrar of Converts, and Perlis Mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin from proceeding with their appeals in the Federal Court to challenge the Court of Appeal’s decision.

The Court of Appeal, on Jan 10, nullified the conversion of Loh’s children to Islam and declared them as Hindus.

In 2023, the High Court dismissed Loh’s judicial review application to annul her children’s conversion to Islam.

The 37-year-old single mother filed the application on March 25, 2022, seeking a declaration that her three children are Hindus and asserting that her ex-husband, M Nagahswaran, who converted to Islam, lacked the legal capacity to register their children as converts without her consent.

The three children, who were initially placed under the care of the Social Welfare Department, were returned to Loh on Feb 21, 2022, after the High Court granted her habeas corpus application.

- Bernama

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Loh's three children remain non-Muslims