Here is what that women who may be deported from the UK to Jordan to have a sharia court decide who gets her son is up against. Considering the mother in the following story has been trying to finalize this case for four years, and has not seen her kidnapped daughter in over a month, do try to overlook the cutesy, but totally inappropriate, title: “Legal twist in tug-of-love,” by Geoffrey Bew for the Gulf Daily News, July 22:
BAHRAIN’S courts may have breached United Nations (UN) laws on human rights by freeing a father arrested for allegedly kidnapping his child during a tug-of-love custody battle.
The verdict appeared to defy at least two UN conventions which the country has signed, said Bahrain Transparency Society (BTS) president Abdulnabi Al Ekri.
The Bahraini father was freed following a Sharia Court hearing at the Justice Ministry, Manama on July 9 despite failing to reveal his five-year-old daughter Sarah’s whereabouts.
He had earlier been held at the Hoora Police Station for seven days after being arrested during a raid on his home, for failing to return Sarah to her mother Lecita Flores, who has the child’s legal custody.
The man was brought before the judge the following day and given 72 hours to say where his daughter Sarah was, or remain in custody.
He refused to give details but was given another 72 hours.
However, the man was later released though he did not say where his child was. The judge said he did not have powers to keep him locked up.
Mr Al Ekri says children involved in custody cases should stay with their mother before adulthood and the father be granted access.
“This case shows that the judiciary must implement its own verdict,” he said.
“The state is bragging that it has an independent judiciary and here is a test case for it.
“In case the local judiciary is unable or unwilling to do something, Bahrain is a signatory to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
“I think Ms Flores should raise this issue with the Bahrain Human Rights Society (BHRS) to investigate a possible breach of UN regulations,” he said.
The 42-year-old has not seen her daughter for nearly a month now and has only managed a brief telephone conversation with her.
[…]It is the fourth time a judge has ordered the child be handed back to her, a mother who has been fighting a custody battle with the man since April 2004.