Police documents unsealed in Ontario court last week allege that girls as young as 14- or 15-years old are forced to marry adult men and bear their children, and that disobedient 13- and 14-year-olds are locked in basements. Children are also reportedly forcibly separated from their parents, both as a disciplinary measure for the children and to discipline parents who are not sufficiently obedient to the group’s leader, convicted kidnapped Rabbi Shlomo Helbrans.
File photo: Unidentified Lev Tahor children
Quebec Court Blocks Haredi Lev Tahor Cult’s Appeal, Children Must Be Returned To Quebec And Placed In Foster Care
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
The haredi Lev Tahor cult has no legal right to appeal a Quebec court ruling that orders the removal of 14 children from Lev Tahor homes, a Quebec judge reportedly ruled Friday.
Lev Tahor fled Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec in the middle of the night in November for rural Ontario to escape the looming court order, which was issued only days after Lev Tahor ran away and failed to appear at a scheduled court hearing.
Friday, a Quebec Superior Court judge reportedly dismissed Lev Tahor's appeal because Lev Tahor failed to file the appeal within the 30-day period required by law and because it fled justice.
Earlier this month, an Ontario court ruled that the Quebec court’s ruling was binding on Ontario and ordered that 13 of the 14 children returned to Quebec and placed in foster care. The 14th child, a 17-year-old mother of one of the 13 children, was exempted from the ruling because she is married and almost 18-years-old. The judge also stayed his ruling for 30 days in order to give Lev Tahor time to file an appeal.
Police documents unsealed in Ontario court last week allege that girls as young as 14- or 15-years old are “forced to marry adult men and bear their children, and that disobedient 13- and 14-year-olds are locked in basements,” QMI Agency reported.
Children are also reportedly forcibly separated from their parents, both as a disciplinary measure for the children and to discipline parents who are not sufficiently obedient to the group’s leader, convicted kidnapped Rabbi Shlomo Helbrans.
The Montreal Jewish community has reportedly arranged Yiddish-speaking hasidic foster homes for the children and several haredi and hasidic leaders there have ordered followers not to donate any money to Lev Tahor or to its legal defense fund.