Malaysian government should secure the release of couple detained in Sweden - NCHR

The Nordic Committee of Human Rights, a Swedish NGO, well-known for their advocacy for families in disputes with social-services agencies over the custody of children, has been closely following the case involving Malaysian couple detained for violations of integrity of their for children.

Ruby Harrold- Claesson, President Nordic Committee of Human Rights

Ruby Harrold- Claesson President, Nordic Committee of Human Rights

Its president, a renowned human-rights lawyer in Sweden, Ruby Harrold-Claesson in her Skype interview with Astro AWANI said that it is not impossible for the Malaysian government to bring Shalwati Nurshal and Azizul Raheem Awaluddin back home.

"Since your government secured the release of the children, they should secure the release of the parents.”

Ruby said, she has read and went though the writ and that the prosecutor is demanding for the expulsion of the Malaysian couple.

This means, if found guilty, they will have to serve their sentence for gross child abuse which is 1 to 6 years jail term, before being deported.

“I think they should be expelled immediately, instead of subjecting them to a 10-day court hearing and that is going to cost the Swedish taxpayers millions of Swedish kronas."

The Solna District Court has released on Feb 10, multiple accusations for violations of children’s integrity to the Malaysian couple detained in Sweden for hitting their children.

The writ contains multiple violations and acts of corporal punishment like canning, hitting, slapping and pinching of all four children, Ammar 12, Aisyah 14, Adam 11 and Arif, seven-years-old in the period of approximately three years starting Sept 15, 2010 to Dec 17, 2013.

The writ stated multiple vivid acts of abuse by the Malaysian couple to their four children which include the use of objects such as belt, cane and carpet beater as punishment tools and has caused uproar among Malaysians.

Ruby said, in many cases especially for foreign families who are faced with violations of integrity of children, the fabrication of evidence to be brought to trial is possible.

“Very often there is trumped up evidence against the parents. The Swedes want to show how well they protect children in Sweden from their parents but in fact they damage parent-children relationships and destroy families.”

The court hearing is expected to begin Feb 18, 2014.

Shalwati, a teacher on unpaid leave and her husband, Azizul who is a director with Tourism Malaysia came to Stockholm for duty in 2010. They were both detained by the government of Sweden for alleged abuse since Dec 18, 2013.

In 1979, Sweden became the first nation to ban corporal punishment of children. Currently, more than 300,000 children in Sweden have been removed from their homes and placed in foster care due to violations of integrity of children.