Friday, 27 October 2006

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Hearing in Madonna adoption case is postponed

Adjournment will give time for judge to give consider other parties

A hearing in Malawi scheduled for Friday to consider Madonna's adoption of 13-month-old David Banda has been adjourned until Nov. 13.

"The hearing has been adjourned ... for the judge to hear other parties involved," Madonna's Malawian lawyer, Alan Chinula, told Reuters after he and counsel for the child rights groups that oppose the star's adoption of David met in the chambers of high court Judge Andrew Nyirenda.

Neither side would provide details of the proceedings.

The Human Rights Consultative Committee has asked Judge Nyirenda to review the adoption process and insure that the laws have been followed properly. In all, an alliance of 67 groups is urging the right to challenge the interim adoption order that permitted Madonna take David out of Malawi.

David's father, Yohane Banda, was also in the courtroom in central Lillongwe on Friday, saying that his presence was a protest against efforts to block the adoption.

On Thursday, Banda told the Associated Press: "I am afraid Madonna may get angry and frustrated and decide to dump my son because of these people. These so-called human rights activists are harassing me every day, threatening me that I am not aware of what I am doing. I'm afraid David may be sent back and the orphanage may not even accept him back. So where will he end up? Here? He will certainly die."

Banda also said on Thursday that the activists have pressured him to side with them during the proceedings: "They want me to support their court case, a thing I cannot do for I know what I agreed with Madonna and her husband."

A spokesman for the child rights groups, Maxwell Matewere, said the alliance would not "move an inch to stop the legal action" despite Yohane Banda's appeal, the BBC reports.

HRCC chairman Justin Dzonzi said David could suffer psychological damage if Madonna and Ritchie ever split up, and said that under current laws, David is not entitled to inherit any of Madonna's wealth.

"It's not like we are blocking the adoption, but we want laws followed to the letter," Dzonzi said. "We want these issues clarified."