Canadian Lev Tahor sect loses appeal in Trinidad

Trinidad says nine members are in the custody of airline Westjet pending their return to Canada

By AP 7 March 2014, 10:18 am 0 Edit

Lev Tahor girls walking in Chatham, Ontario, in December 2013. (Screen Capture/YouTube)

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad — The Attorney General of Trinidad says members of a Jewish sect have lost their attempt to prevent being returned to Canada.

The three adults and six children filed an emergency petition of habeas corpus after they were stopped en route to Guatemala. The High Court dismissed their claim Thursday.

Immigration authorities refused entry to the nine members of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish group Lev Tahor upon their arrival Monday in Port-of-Spain.

In Canada, the sect is fighting a child removal case involving 13 children after a judge ruled last month that the children must be turned over to child protection authorities in Quebec. A court there ordered that the children be placed in foster care.

Trinidad says the nine are in the custody of airline Westjet pending their return to Canada.