Six-year-old Irish boy abducted by his father and brought to Egypt

Good to see this case coming back into the media, the background to the story is quite horrific

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/family-seek-return-of-boy-abducted-to-egypt-1.1567512

The family of a six-year-old Irish boy who was abducted by his father have called on the Government to instigate an extradition treaty with Egypt to have the child returned to Ireland.

Faris Heeney was just two when his father, Amir Ismaeil, an Egyptian national who was working in Ireland, had his son smuggled out of the country on July 28th, 2009

Basically, the mother drops her 2 year old toddler over to the Dad's place for routine sleepover. She comes back 2 days later, as arranged, and her son has gone.

It emerges that the Uncle and the father have conspired to have the little boy removed to Egypt. The child was dressed up as a girl, carried off on his infant cousin's passport, and passed through security at Dublin airport. The taxi driver that drove the child and his uncle to the airport say the child was very agitated on the journey.

The mother was eventually allowed brief visits to her son in Egypt, and she has described having to walk away from him and come back to Ireland while he would cry, obviously, that his mother was leaving him.

It is important to note that this all transpired prior to the coup, when Egypt was a stable country with which we had diplomatic relations. Not only did the Government not seem to make any progress in signing any agreement with Egypt to bring this boy back home, the mother has told the Irish times they have been of very limited assistance to her in any form.

This is so wrong. There is an Irish child who we know has been abducted, deprived of his normal family life, and the state shows no apparent interest or motivation in bringing him home? Gardai even took in the father for questioning, before he went back to Egypt to re-unite with his son, but they brought no charges, and released him. How can we treat our own children in this way?

It's how an Egyptian father treats his child.

Let's lay the blame where it should be laid

title is a bit misleading, how is Ireland responsible for an Eygptian man's "kidnapping"?

ted1 wrote: »

To be honest I'm not sure how I feel about this.

If a mother took her child away from the child father in Egypt. What would you think.

That would be equally bad.

Nevertheless, because this is Ireland, and most of us are posting from Ireland or are Irish citizens, we have a special interest in how the State organizes its affairs, and especially, how it protects its own children.

I do not blame the State for the initial abduction. But clearly the fact that over four years have passed, and no progress has been made, and the mother is claiming that no meaningful consular assistance has been forthcoming, this is indicative of a problem.

It is more than indicative of a problem, it is indicative of a theme. We consistently fail Irish children. This must be one of the most consistent themes of the modern Irish state.

Ok a few things here.

One, as a western woman, if you want to be sure wont happen, don't reproduce with people from non Hague convention countries. You have no security with it. Givn the rates of divorce and is single parenting, the odds are high enough that not breeding with people from nations where mothers have no rights is a no brainer.

Second thing. I have passed several times through irish airports with my Little one and never even been asked to show his passport.

Third thing, I have travelled with my little one extensively and have never been asked to show a sole custodial order or permission to travel.

Fourth thing, travelling by boat around Europa is far too easy without documentation.

All of this makes kidnapping very easy.

Why this custody arrangement was not treated as high risk for abduction is being me. It had all the classic hallmarks of one.

wil wrote: »

It is illegal to take a child out of the state without permission of the other parent. Especially relevant to non-EU parents from countries which haven't signed the Hague convention.

The offence of international child abduction

"It is an offence for a parent or guardian* to take or send a child under 16 years out of the State in defiance of a Court order or without the consent of the other parent, if that parent is a guardian. This also applies where a parent has applied to the court for guardianship but the case has not yet been heard."

What can they do about it?

Ireland will never get that child back.