A girl whose seven-year-old son was kidnapped by his father and brought to Saudi Arabia has stated she repeatedly warned authorities it could occur however “nobody listened”.
Ranem Elkhalidi has not seen or spoken to Ibrahim Faraj since November, when he was kidnapped by his father, Hamzah Faraj, in breach of a courtroom order.
She is now anxious she is going to by no means once more see her son, who was born within the UK and solely speaks English, as there isn’t a extradition treaty in place between the 2 international locations.
“He’s simply all the time so bubbly and all the time laughing and a little bit of joker taking part in methods. He loves animals. Now we have two pugs and a cat who’re like his finest buddies, he all the time rushed residence from college to see them,” she stated.
Elkhalidi final noticed her son on 11 November, when she dropped him at his main college in Frodsham, Cheshire. He was attributable to spend the weekend together with his father, who had joint custody after the couple separated.
Nonetheless, the next Monday Ibrahim’s college known as to say he had not turned up they usually had been unable to get in contact with Faraj.
Elkhalidi known as the police and it was found Faraj had flown with Ibrahim from Manchester airport to the Saudi port metropolis of Jeddah on the Saturday.
“I used to be indignant, I used to be like, ‘I instructed everybody however no-one listened to me,’” stated Elkhalidi, who’s initially from Palestine and resides as a refugee within the UK.
“After that time the police did their finest to assist me however there was nothing extra they might do from right here whereas Ibrahim’s there.”
Solely 9 days earlier Elkhalidi had obtained a courtroom order from Liverpool household courtroom to cease Faraj taking Ibrahim in a foreign country. She had stated she feared this could occur based mostly on Faraj’s temperament and stated this was a sample amongst Saudi households.
Authorities believed Faraj wouldn’t be capable to get Ibrahim out of the UK as a result of his mom had his passport, however Faraj managed to acquire a journey doc from the Saudi embassy.
Further courtroom orders have been ignored and there was no communication between Faraj and the UK authorities since he went on the run.
Elkhalidi stated she had tried repeatedly to contact Faraj and his household in Saudi Arabia utilizing different family members as intermediaries nevertheless it was not potential to talk to her son.
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“They’re hiding him. I don’t know the place he’s now,” she stated.
It has additionally been not possible to get anybody within the nation to assist her. “He’s a person so that they’re standing with him,” she stated.
Final week, Elkhalidi was granted a publicity order to have the ability to discuss brazenly about her son’s abduction.
Mrs Justice Knowles on the Royal Courts of Justice stated Faraj was conscious of the courtroom orders in place however had not taken any steps to return Ibrahim residence. He was despatched hyperlinks to attend his courtroom dates remotely however did not attend.
An announcement launched by the courtroom stated: “The excessive courtroom has decided upon the proof earlier than the courtroom that Ibrahim was wrongfully faraway from this jurisdiction to Saudi Arabia by the daddy and has made a number of orders for Ibrahim to return residence to England since December 2023. None of those orders have been obeyed by his father.”
Cheshire police stated data on Faraj “has now been circulated as wished for little one abduction on the nationwide police database.
“All the suitable authorities have been made conscious and officers are persevering with to do all they will to return the kid to the UK.”
