KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia's government is trying to help a woman recover her 5-year-old son from Belgium after her estranged husband took him there and defied an Islamic court order granting her custody of the child, news reports said Sunday.
The case has stirred religious sensitivities in this Muslim-majority country partly because Elis Syuhaila Mokhtar has voiced doubts about whether her Dutch husband, who converted to Islam before they married in 2001, was raising their child according to Islamic principles.
Malaysia's Shariah High Court last month gave Elis custody of the Malaysian-born boy but granted visitation rights to her husband, Frank Theodorus van de Ven, following a custody dispute after the couple began divorce proceedings in January 2008. Van de Ven had taken his son to Belgium in March and wanted to keep him there.
Elis and van de Ven, who lived together in Belgium for several years, have traded accusations against each other in the Malaysian media. The New Straits Times newspaper on Saturday quoted van de Ven as saying in an email interview that Elis had kept him away from their son for more than a year after their marriage ran into trouble.
Women and Family Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil said late Saturday that the man's refusal to heed the court's decision was "an insult to the Shariah laws of Malaysia," the national news agency Bernama reported.
She said her ministry would work with government lawyers to assist Elis, who would likely need to appoint a lawyer to bring the case to the Belgian courts, Bernama said.
Ministry officials who could comment on the case could not immediately be contacted.
Malaysia's Shariah courts have jurisdiction over Muslims in legal disputes regarding family and personal matters.
Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jMtabpoV_WbEeUIhlD5gKhGBmMrw
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