Arrested mom of underweight infant feared child would be taken away: supporters

Suggestions the 22-year-old woman was refusing care out of religious dictates are simply wrong, the members said.

"They're making it seem that she is just 'negligent baby mother' or whatever, running away from handling her responsibilities," said Kudjo Adwo Sut Tekh El, grand sheik of the Moorish Science Temple of America.

"That's not the case. They made the mother scared."

Police arrested the woman along with baby's father, 36, and a third person, 24, on Sunday after a two-hour impasse at the Hospital for Sick Children.

The case garnered widespread attention after the woman took her infant to the hospital a week ago, but left before the malnourished baby could be treated. That prompted police to issue an urgent advisory about the nine-month-old boy, who weighed just 11 pounds.

The breast-fed baby failed to gain weight as the result of severe allergies and had developed a severe form of eczema, prompting the mother to take the child to a naturopath, supporters said.

On the advice of the naturopath, she went to Sick Kids but left with the infant because they had threatened to call in child-welfare authorities and she worried she would lose her child, Sut Tekh El said.

"It's not like she neglected the child for nine months, then all of a sudden she was running to get help," Sut Tekh El said. "She's been trying to get help."

While the Islamic-based group believes in vegetarianism and a natural, holistic approach to health, he disputed media reports the mom had refused "institutionalized" medicine out of religious persuasion.

"We're not refusing her going to the hospital and getting the medical attention that Sick Kids thinks this child should get," he said.

Police said the infant's condition is not life-threatening. The child and his two-year-old sibling, who is healthy, were taken into the care of child-welfare authorities.

The woman and her co-accused all face charges of obstructing a peace officer.

As family and members of the group looked on, she made a brief court appearance Monday where the Crown proposed to release her and two co-accused on $2,500 bail.

"Blessed love," a friend called out from the back as the woman, dressed in a light brown hoodie and jeans, was led into the small, packed courtroom.

The Crown also stipulated the woman not associate with her co-accused or see her children without consent.

Outside court, a member of the group carrying her own two-month-old infant described the accused as "excellent" parents who did everything to get help for their baby.

"She went (to hospital) as a concerned mom and then she was victimized," said the woman, who refused to give her name.

"She did everything in her power for the child."

About 30 people belong to the recently formed Toronto chapter of the Moorish Science Temple of America group, although there are "thousands" of adherents in the United States, Sut Tekh El said.

Members of the 80-year-old group eschew labels like Negro or African-Canadian in favour of their African ancestry, he said.