Windsor’s mother was reunited with her children after more than two years

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After two of her children were abducted by her ex-husband and brought to Lebanon two and a half years ago, a Windsor mother was left in indescribable pain every day wondering when or if she could see them again.

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But with the help of a local attorney and Global Affairs Canada, Khawla Khalifa’s heartbreaking odyssey finally ended happily at Toronto Pearson Airport Sunday when he was reunited with his 10-year-old son Fawzi and seven-year-old daughter Dina. .

“It was unbelievable,” Khalifa said. “Honestly, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw them walk down the hall. It was the best day of my life to see them back home with us. “

A third and youngest child, Zein, has remained with the mother and was not abducted by his father Achraf Zeidan in April 2019, when the couple was in the middle of divorce proceedings.

Her tears of pain have now turned into tears of joy.

“Honestly, the last two and a half years have been almost unbearable,” Khalifa said. “To finally have them home again, being able to hug and kiss them is more than I could have asked for.

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“I’m glad it’s finally over and that we can move on now.”

In the months that followed the kidnapping, Khalifa tried numerous avenues including the police, the judicial system and the federal government, through Global Affairs Canada and several high-ranking cabinet ministers, to have his children returned.

But Lebanon is not a signatory to the Hague Convention, an international treaty that can, upon court decision, order the return of a child to its country of “habitual residence,” Global Affairs Canada told the Star previously.

Since the alleged abduction occurred in April 2019, a Canadian-wide arrest warrant has been upheld against Zeidan, seeking his arrest on two counts of parental kidnapping and one count of disobeying a court order.

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Windsor’s attorney, Harvey Strosberg, filed a $ 5 million civil lawsuit on Khalifa’s behalf in May. That ultimately helped play a crucial role in reuniting her with the children as part of a court settlement, although the proceedings are ongoing and will continue later this month.

With the help of Global Affairs Canada, the confirmation that the children would be returned to their mother only happened on Friday night. The young men boarded a plane to Toronto on Saturday.

“This has been a great challenge,” Strosberg said Monday. “But I enjoyed every minute of trying to help Khawla. Her tears of pain have now turned into tears of joy. “

During the couple’s divorce proceedings, an Ontario court order in February 2019 said the couple’s three young children, who were born in Windsor, would not be removed from Windsor or Essex County. Their Canadian passports were left in the hands of the lawyer for the mother’s family.

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But the father had visitation rights on weekends and two months later, in mid-April, he allegedly took a flight to Lebanon with Dina, who was five at the time, and her son Fawzi, who was eight at the time.

The father allegedly obtained new Palestinian passports and was able to board the children without restrictions on an EgyptAir flight from Toronto.

Among those named in Strosberg’s lawsuit was EgyptAir, citing the airline and its employees as being “negligent” in allowing the two young children to board the flight out of the country without proper “notarized written consent” from the mother.

Khalifa, the children’s mother, was born in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and came to Windsor with her parents at approximately four years of age. She has long since become a Canadian citizen and graduated from the University of Windsor. He is currently in the middle of his second year at the University of Windsor School of Law.

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He married Zeidan in 2006 and soon after became a Canadian citizen.

The family is said to have moved back to Lebanon temporarily at the end of 2018, so Zeidan could help out in his father’s business. But soon after, the marriage fell apart and Khalifa returned to Windsor with all three children.

Months later, the abduction occurred when the father allegedly took the children to live in Saida, Lebanon, along with their parents Khadije and Mahmoud, according to the lawsuit.

Khalifa had no contact with his children until Sunday, except once or twice briefly by phone.

Both the mother and Strosberg on Monday praised Nahima Telahigue, Canada’s Consular Case Management Officer for Global Affairs, for being “invaluable” in helping with information and helping bring the children back to Windsor.

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“I am very grateful,” Khalifa said. “I know many parents in my place who do not see the light at the end of the tunnel. For me, it ended differently, thankfully. I am happy that my children are home. There was a chance that he had never seen them again. It’s almost unbelievable that you are here with me today.

“I can’t thank Harvey enough. There are so many people that I am thankful for. My family and friends have been an invaluable support system for me and have always been there when I needed them most. “

She acknowledges that after being separated for more than 30 months there will be a period of readjustment for her and the children after the ordeal, “but I feel like a weight has been lifted from me.”

“We are together,” Khalifa said. “I’m sure we will all be fine now.”

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