Ministry to hire Swedish lawyers

PUTRAJAYA: The Tourism and Culture Ministry will engage Swedish lawyers to keep a watching brief on behalf of the ministry in the trial of the Malaysian couple charged with abusing their children there.

Its minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said Tourism Malaysia director-general Datuk Mirza Mohammad Taiyab would fly there a few days before the trial begins on Feb 18 to engage the lawyers.

The trial was expected to last for 10 days.

Nazri added that the laws of different nations should be respected.

“You can’t be angry with Sweden because that is their law. What if other people come here and break our laws?

“If you want people to respect you, you need to respect them,” he said.

Tourism Malaysia officer Azizul Raheem Awaluddin and his wife Shalwati Norshal were charged on Monday in Stockholm for assault and gross violation of their children’s integrity. The couple pleaded not guilty and will be jointly tried on Feb 18.

Azizul and Shalwati have been held in custody since their arrest on Dec 18.

The couple’s four children were handed over to the Malaysian Embassy here on Jan 30.

The children, aged between seven and 14, flew back to Malaysia on Jan 31 and have been placed under the care of their aunt and uncle in Kelantan.

In KOTA BARU, Shalwati’s father said he had been advised not to comment on the issue to avoid jeapardising the court case.

Nor Shal Nordin, 70, added that Home Ministry officials had advised him to remain calm and to let the Foreign Ministry handle the case.

He said this to reporters after receiving early school aid of RM100 each on behalf of his grandchildren Aishah, 14, Ammar, 12, Adam, 11, and Arif, seven, at SMK and SK Padang Kala Melur on yesterday.