Mother calls on Ireland to issue Interpol Red Notice to recover kidnapped children from Egypt

Mandy Kelly and Children — Mandy Kelly's children abducted in Egypt.

An Irish mother urged the government to issue an Interpol Red Notice against her Egyptian husband, Ramy Gamal Maamoun Mohamed, who locked Mandy Kelly in an apartment while on holiday in Egypt and abducted their children.

Since the event, Ms Kelly has been awarded custody of her two children in both Ireland and Egypt, but her husband is in hiding.

Interpol & Extradition expert, Radha Stirling, has dealt with multiple cases of international child abduction over the past decade. “Ms Kelly is fortunate that Egyptian authorities have agreed with the findings of the Irish courts and wish for her to be reunited with her children. In other cases, we’ve seen courts in the Middle East usually side with the first person to apply for a custody order and they tend to favour the father”, explained Ms Stirling, founder of Detained in Dubai.

Mother asks MP’s to push Middle Eastern allies to join Hague Convention on Child Abduction

“There is a trend towards living abroad in places like Dubai and that has proven to be a nightmare if facing a custody dispute. It’s also becoming increasingly common to enter multicultural marriages which puts children at risk of being kidnapped and taken to one parent’s home country. When the home country is not a member of the Hague Convention, it has proven quite easy to abduct children. The abductor simply files a custody application and in most cases, they are successful, particularly because they are a national of that country and are favoured by the courts.

“The courts don’t care if the other parent has an Irish or UK court order. They are not bound by it. I have cautioned parents against holidaying or allowing their children to holiday in riskier countries. It’s simply not worth it.”

Interpol Red Notice

Ms Stirling noted, “Western countries have been apprehensive to issue Interpol Red Notices in cases of child abduction, especially like in this case where the event occurred in another jurisdiction. However, parents need to feel assured that authorities take child abduction by a parent as seriously as they would if it were a stranger. Child abduction has become normalised and dismissed as simply a ‘dispute’ between bickering spouses.

“An Interpol Red Notice can be issued against the father in this case for human trafficking (luring the children to Egypt under false pretences, and kidnapping. Countries in the Middle East have listed Irish citizens on Interpol for petty reasons like bank debt. The Irish government should not hesitate to issue an Interpol warrant in this case either”.

Abuse Warning

Interpol is open to abuse and weaponisation by vindictive and dangerous spouses. Significant evidence of criminal activity should be necessary to activate a Notice.

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