A Malaysian court Thursday upheld the unilateral conversion to Islam of three Hindu children in a prominent case. The case revolved around Hindu mother Loh Siew Hong's three children -- a boy and a pair of twin girls aged between 11 and 14 – who were raised as Hindus. Loh's estranged husband M. Nagahswaran converted to Islam and allowed Islamic authorities in the state of Perlis to register the children as Muslims without their mother’s consent in 2020. Subsequently, the Loh, who has also said her husband had brutally abused her, divorced him in March 2021. After her husband was jailed on drug charges, care of the children was transferred to Islamic authorities until Loh last year won a court challenge to gain custody. In 2022, Loh asked the High Court to invalidate the conversion and declare the children as Hindus, arguing that the conversion to Islam was unilateral. But in a decision Thursday, High Court Judge Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh ruled the conversion to be valid. While they will have to stick by the court’s ruling, the children will remain in their mother’s custody, said Loh’s lawyer. IMAGES of mother of the children and the court