Teenage Bahraini singer Halal Turk's mother, Mona al Saber, was initially granted custody of the 14-year-old and her two siblings when her father married Moroccan singer Dounia Batma, whom Hala is very close with.
However, the father, music producer Mohammad Al Turk, lodged an appeal against the ruling at the Sharia Court, which upheld the initial ruling yesterday.
Hala Turk with her stepmom Dounia Batma. (Shorouknews.com)
This means that Hala will stay with her mother until she gets married, while her brothers will stay with their mother until they reach the age of 15.
All three siblings previously appeared in court, where Hala urged the judge to overturn the initial ruling because she wanted to live with her father.
However, lawyer Salwa Al Khalifa, representing the mother, said the court should not take Hala’s comments into consideration because legally she was not old enough to have a say in the matter.
Hala rose to prominence in 2011 when she was selected for Arabs Got Talent – and her latest single Live In The Moment has more than 24 million hits on YouTube.
