Irish mother told ‘bring one child home, not both’
AN IRISH woman forced to choose which one of her two children to leave behind in an airport in Dubai, having left her husband in Saudi Arabia, is ‘unlikely to see the return of her child in a timely manner, if at all’, according to experts.
A London High Court has heard that the mother was attempting to leave her husband and take their son and daughter who are both under six years of age.
The woman was taking her children to the UK when stopped by officials in Dubai and told she could bring one child but not both, the court heard.
On her arrival, the woman took legal action to bring her daughter to Britain. The girl is now in the custody of her father in Saudi Arabia.
The High Court judge in London, Judge James Holmon, ordered that the father return the girl to her mother and is due to examine the case again in several weeks.
However, the founder of civil and criminal justice NGO, Detained in Dubai, Radha Stirling has told the Irish Mail on Sunday that: ‘Neither the United
Arab Emirates, nor Saudi Arabia, respect the orders of UK or European courts over matters of child custody.
She added: ‘Some people have deliberately taken their children to Dubai on what they said was a holiday knowing that they could get away with keeping the children against any foreign court orders. Only in the event of the ex-husband travelling to the UK might the court order have a hope of enforcement.’ Detained in Dubai has been assisting foreign victims of injustice in the UAE and throughout the Gulf states for over a decade and aims to help expats entangled in the complex legal system.
Ms Stirling told the MoS that the mother has yet to be in touch with her organisation but they ‘would be happy to assist in any way’. In Ms Stirling’s experience she said: ‘The return of her child is unlikely to occur in a timely manner, if at all. Unless the father voluntarily gives up custody, within the legal system of Saudi Arabia, there will be no pressure whatsoever for him to send his daughter back to her mother.
‘Indeed, it is more likely that the Saudi courts would issue a demand that she return her son to the custody of her exhusband. Any foreigner, particularly Western non-Muslim women, must understand that they will not be given equality before the courts, and child custody will almost never be granted.’
While it isn’t unique for children to be unable to leave the Middle East without the express permission of their father, it is unique for the children to be separated from each other, she said.
While not knowing the specifics of this particular case, she speculated: ‘Either, she had something that allowed for the son to travel with her and not the daughter, or else the authorities made an arbitrary decision to prevent one of the children from carrying on the journey. This may have been intended to stop the mother from proceeding at all.
‘It is not unheard of in the Gulf, under the informal guardianship system to require mothers travelling with children to carry proof that they have the permission of their male guardians to do so.’
‘Particularly disturbing’ to see children separated’
Ms Stirling said this case was ‘particularly disturbing’ as the children have been separated.
She said: ‘It is worth noting that the family law courts in the Gulf are so biased that Princess Haya herself chose to flee the UAE with her children in order to ensure that she would have a fair custody hearing following her divorce from Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Ruler of Dubai. Even being the daughter of the former King of Jordan, and the sister of the current king, would not guarantee her an impartial process over the custody of her children.’