Nurul Izzah wants custody of her two children
Malaysiakini – 19 hours ago
Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar has filed an application for custody of her two children at the Kuala Lumpur Syariah High Court.
The matter came up in the Syariah High Court today and judge Amran Mat Zain fixed June 17 for Raja Ahmad Shahrir Iskandar Raja Salim to appoint officially lawyers to represent him.
This is despite Azmi Rais, the lawyer for Raja Ahmad Shahrir ( right ), being present in court to appear for him.
However, Azmi, who was in court along with lawyer Zulkifli Che Yong, told reporters that their client is in London at present and could not officially appoint them.
Before that Nurul Izzah and her lawyer Nor Mawaddah Ramli and Azmi met the judge in his chambers.
This new application is in addition to the PKR vice-president's application to divorce her husband of 10 years Raja Ahmad Shahrir, which is undergoing review before the reconciliation committee, an independent panel comprising representatives of the couple's relatives and a syariah officer.
The committee chaired by the syariah officer is supposed to submit a report to the Lower Syariah Court, where Nurul Izzah's application for divorce is being made, on whether there could be a reconciliation or otherwise by June 12.
Nurul Izzah and Raja Ahmad Shahrir have a daughter aged seven and a son aged four.
Nurul Izzah filed the hadanah (custody) application at the KL Syariah High Court on April 30.
According to Azmi, Raja Ahmad Shahrir and his lawyers only received the application on Saturday, May 24.
Following today's matter, Azmi said the judge will also make orders for Raja Ahmad Shahrir to state his stand or defence on the custody of the two children on the same da, June 17.
In divorce proceedings, an applicant can make the application to have custody of the children during the proceedings or after the divorce is affirmed.
Nurul Izzah filed an application last December, under Section 47 of the Federal Territory Islamic Family Law Act 1984, to mutually divorce Raja Ahmad Shahrir following irreconcilable differences.
However, Raja Ahmad is said to be against the application, resulting in the matter to be referred to the reconciliation committee.
