An appeal court in California has rejected an attempt by Michael Jackson to bar ex-wife Debbie Rowe from contact with their two children. The decision is the latest twist in the ongoing custody battle between Jackson and his ex, which began when Rowe began legal action to regain charge of the children shortly after the star's arrest in 2003 when he was accused of child abuse.
The decision invalidates a 2001 ruling when a judge granted Rowe's request to terminate her parental rights. The five appeal court judges yesterday backed a lower court's ruling that the aforementioned 2001 agreement to give up her right to custody was invalid, because the judge in that case had made a procedural error.
Rowe's eagerness to get her children back and remove them from the sphere of Jackson's influence seems not only to be based on worries over the child abuse accusations. Court documents also show that she has worries about Jackson's possible involvement with radical black religious group The Nation Of Islam. Rowe sought temporary exclusive custody of the children, "because of concerns arising from Michael's criminal prosecution and press reports Michael had associated with the Nation of Islam, whose members Deborah believed do 'not like Jews'," according to those documents.
Neither Jackson's lawyers nor US spokeswoman Raymone Bain have commented on the decision, which could, of course, lead to an all out custody battle between Jacko and his ex.