KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 21 — Perlis Mufti Datuk Mohd Asri Zainul today said he expected the High Court decision giving Hindu mother Loh Siew Hong physical custody of her Muslim children, but would find legal options to maintain their unilateral conversion that was performed in his state.

This morning, Justice Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah granted Loh a writ of habeas corpus for the immediate release of her three children from unlawful detention.

According to Free Malaysia Today (FMT), Asri said that the priority is to preserve the conversion of the three children, who were unilaterally and surreptitiously converted by their Muslim-convert father, Nagashwaran Muniandy, in 2020.

The conversion took place despite the 2018 Federal Court ruling in the case of Hindu mother M. Indira Gandhi that the unilateral conversion of minors was unlawful and unconstitutional.

"We are not surprised by the decision on the custody rights," he was quoted as saying.

"What we are defending is the Islamisation of the children, if they want to continue to embrace Islam. We are looking at other measures in terms of the law,” he said.

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* A previous version of this story contained an error which has since been corrected.