Lev Tahor members to appear in Guatemala court

Some members of a Jewish sect who fled Canada this month are scheduled to appear in a Guatemala court today.

Uriel Goldman, a spokesman for the Lev Tahor group, says two families made up of three adults and six children in all have been ordered to appear in family court in the town of Solola.

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At least two Lev Tahor families left Canada for Guatemala last week in the face of child custody hearings.

About 200 members of the sect 114 of them children settled in Chatham, Ont., last year after suddenly leaving from Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, Que.

Child-welfare authorities in Quebec spent a year investigating issues related to hygiene, health and allegations that the children weren't being educated according to the provincial curriculum.

The group has denied all allegations of mistreatment and Goldman says the two families in Guatemala have done nothing wrong.