A girl whose seven-year-old son was kidnapped by his father and brought to Saudi Arabia has mentioned she repeatedly warned authorities it will 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 court docket order.
She is now fearful she’s going to by no means once more see her son, who was born within the UK and solely speaks English, as there is no such thing as a extradition treaty in place between the 2 international locations.
“He’s simply at all times so bubbly and at all times laughing and a little bit of joker enjoying tips. He loves animals. Now we have two pugs and a cat who’re like his finest associates, he at all times rushed residence from faculty to see them,” she mentioned.
Elkhalidi final noticed her son on 11 November, when she dropped him at his main faculty in Frodsham, Cheshire. He was as a consequence of spend the weekend along with his father, who had joint custody after the couple separated.
Nonetheless, the next Monday Ibrahim’s faculty referred to as to say he had not turned up they usually had been unable to get in contact with Faraj.
Elkhalidi referred to 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 informed everybody however no-one listened to me,’” mentioned 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 court docket order from Liverpool household court docket to cease Faraj taking Ibrahim in a foreign country. She had mentioned she feared this is able to occur primarily based on Faraj’s temperament and mentioned 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.
Extra court docket orders have been ignored and there was no communication between Faraj and the UK authorities since he went on the run.
Elkhalidi mentioned she had tried repeatedly to contact Faraj and his household in Saudi Arabia utilizing different kin as intermediaries nevertheless it was not doable to talk to her son.
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“They’re hiding him. I don’t know the place he’s now,” she mentioned.
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 mentioned.
Final week, Elkhalidi was granted a publicity order to have the ability to speak brazenly about her son’s abduction.
Mrs Justice Knowles on the Royal Courts of Justice mentioned Faraj was conscious of the court docket orders in place however had not taken any steps to return Ibrahim residence. He was despatched hyperlinks to attend his court docket dates remotely however did not attend.
An announcement launched by the court docket mentioned: “The excessive court docket has decided upon the proof earlier than the court docket 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 mentioned info on Faraj “has now been circulated as needed 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.”
