Children caught in crossfire as couple seek police help

A couple's dispute over the custody of their three children has become a concern for Dubai police's human rights section.

The husband claims his wife hid the children while he was on a business trip to Kuwait. And the woman claims she was protecting her children from an abusive father.

The matter has gone to court, but the story took a new turn yesterday when the father, a German national of Syrian origin, Mohammad K., took his son, Karim, 2, from a villa in Jumeirah.

The 43-year-old father told Gulf News: " My wife, who is also German, took my son and daughters Maya, 7, and Yasmine, 5, while I was abroad two months ago. I was searching for my children in an area dotted with villas near Jumeirah Beach Road. I saw a maintenance worker and showed him Karim's photo on my mobile phone. To my surprise, he told me that is Karim. He pointed out to a villa and said I could find Karim inside.

"I knocked on the door. Surprisingly, Maya opened the door and when the rest of my children saw me they ran towards the entrance. Karim stretched out his hands towards me. I held him in my arms and left."

The father alleged that Karim had bruises, burns and scratches on different parts of his body. He provided Gulf News with a copy of the medical report that was issued from Al Baraha Hospital last evening.

The Bur Dubai police station later summoned him after his wife, Noor, accused him of abducting the son.

The father gave Gulf News a copy of a letter issued to him by the police's Human Rights Department, saying the court will decide on the custody of the children. The letter says the father was not allowed to see his children though there was an agreement between the couple for him to meet them either at the police station or the German consulate.

Walter Leuchs, German Consul General in Dubai, told Gulf News: "The court will definitely be the final judge. The mother says she doesn't want the father to see the children."

Noor said their marriage had been in trouble for a long time. She said they married in 1994 in a UAE Sharia court, and divorced in 1995 "because he was violent and jealous" and married again in the same court in 1997.

She told Gulf News: "There was never harmony between us. I took it in, accepted it. He made me feel so dirty, so small. We had a lot of fights. Once he held a knife to Maya's throat. Another time he hit her. Once he threatened to kill me and spent a night in prison. He has a jealous, possessive personality. He accused me of having affairs."