Published in: Khaleej Times, The National

His ex-wife signed a no-objection agreement allowing the man to travel with his daughter in 2015 but has refused to return her to her mother since.

A man kidnapped his daughter and brought her to Dubai after losing custody of the 5-year-old to his ex-wife in their home country, the Personal Status Court was told.

“My client and her husband separated in their home country and their local court granted her custody of their daughter, but because she believed that their daughter needed the presence of both her parents in her life, she willingly signed an agreement giving the father the right to see and travel with his daughter,” said Dr. Hassan Elhais, the woman’s lawyer.

He said the father took advantage of the agreement and kidnapped the girl to Dubai then prevented the mother from seeing and talking to their daughter. According to court records, the couple, from Kazakhstan, were married in March 2010 and had their daughter the following year.

In 2014, the woman filed for divorce and custody of their daughter, both of which were granted to her by a court on July 20 of the same year. The man appealed the verdict but lost as the Civil Status Court in Tashkent upheld the sentence.

Following their divorce, the woman signed a legal no-objection letter allowing her ex-husband to see their daughter and travel with her. The man traveled to Dubai with the girl in 2015 but never brought her back, said Dr. Elhais. The man then filed a lawsuit at Dubai Personal Status Court against his ex-wife asking for custody of their daughter.

“We provided the court with correspondence between our client and her ex-husband, begging to see her daughter or even hear her voice and how he manipulated that and played with her motherly feelings by telling her to come to Dubai when she couldn’t due to her pregnancy and sent her father instead, the husband left him waiting for hours then never showed up,” said Dr. Elhais.

Dr. Elhais said they argued in court that the case was beyond the UAE’s jurisdiction and local courts had no legal right to take action as a verdict had been issued in the Tashkent court. Dubai Personal Status court agreed, ruling that the case was out of their jurisdiction and ordered the ex-husband to return their daughter to her mother.

Dr. Elhais said the ex-husband has yet to return the girl to her mother and is appealing the verdict.

“We will be prepared at the Appeals Court and support our client,” Dr. Elhais said.

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