A judge in Malawi adjourned to November 13 a hearing into an application by child rights groups trying to block the adoption of a Malawian boy by pop star Madonna, lawyers said on Friday. Yohane Banda, father of one-year-old David, who was flown to London earlier this month to join the singer, went to the court in central Lilongwe, saying his presence was a symbolic protest against the legal moves to halt the adoption.

“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 rights groups met high court judge Andrew Nyirenda in his chambers.

Neither of the two lawyers would give details of the proceedings.

Controversy over Madonna’s adoption plan has raged since the American singer spent more than a week in Malawi earlier this month on what her publicists said was a humanitarian mission to help hundreds of thousands of Malawian orphans.

The coalition of rights groups says the government broke its own laws which forbid adoption of any Malawian child by a non resident by granting Madonna interim adoption rights.

Source: Reuters