A woman whose seven-year-old son was kidnapped by his father and taken to Saudi Arabia has said she repeatedly warned authorities it would happen but “no one listened”.
Ranem Elkhalidi has not seen or spoken to Ibrahim Faraj since November, when he was abducted by his father, Hamzah Faraj, in breach of a court order.
She is now worried she will never again see her son, who was born in the UK and only speaks English, as there is no extradition treaty in place between the two countries.
“He’s just always so bubbly and always laughing and a bit of joker playing tricks. He loves animals. We have two pugs and a cat who are like his best friends, he always rushed home from school to see them,” she said.
Elkhalidi last saw her son on 11 November, when she dropped him at his primary school in Frodsham, Cheshire. He was due to spend the weekend with his father, who had joint custody after the couple separated.
However, the following Monday Ibrahim’s school called to say he had not turned up and they had been unable to get in touch with Faraj.
Elkhalidi called the police and it was discovered Faraj had flown with Ibrahim from Manchester airport to the Saudi port city of Jeddah on the Saturday.
“I was angry, I was like, ‘I told everyone but no-one listened to me,’” said Elkhalidi, who is originally from Palestine and is living as a refugee in the UK.
“After that point the police did their best to help me but there was nothing more they could do from here while Ibrahim’s there.”
Only nine days earlier Elkhalidi had obtained a court order from Liverpool family court to stop Faraj taking Ibrahim out of the country. She had said she feared this would happen based on Faraj’s temperament and said this was a pattern among Saudi families.
Authorities believed Faraj would not be able to get Ibrahim out of the UK because his mother had his passport, but Faraj managed to obtain a travel document from the Saudi embassy.
Additional court orders have been ignored and there has been no communication between Faraj and the UK authorities since he went on the run.
Elkhalidi said she had tried repeatedly to contact Faraj and his family in Saudi Arabia using other relatives as intermediaries but it was not possible to speak to her son.
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“They are hiding him. I don’t know where he is now,” she said.
It has also been impossible to get anyone in the country to help her. “He is a man so they’re standing with him,” she said.
Last week, Elkhalidi was granted a publicity order to be able to talk openly about her son’s abduction.
Mrs Justice Knowles at the Royal Courts of Justice said Faraj was aware of the court orders in place but had not taken any steps to return Ibrahim home. He was sent links to attend his court dates remotely but failed to attend.
A statement released by the court said: “The high court has determined upon the evidence before the court that Ibrahim was wrongfully removed from this jurisdiction to Saudi Arabia by the father and has made several orders for Ibrahim to return home to England since December 2023. None of these orders have been obeyed by his father.”
Cheshire police said information on Faraj “has now been circulated as wanted for child abduction on the national police database.
“All the appropriate authorities have been made aware and officers are continuing to do all they can to return the child to the UK.”