Skip to main content

Saudi Arabia child abduction

EDM (Early Day Motion) 1451: tabled on 11 July 2023

Tabled in the 2022-23 session.

This motion has been signed by 10 Members. It has not yet had any amendments submitted.

Motion text

That this House notes that Ranem Elkhalidi's seven year-old son Ibrahim Faraj was abducted by her Saudi Arabian estranged ex-husband in November 2022 from a school in Weaver Vale and taken to Saudi Arabia; further notes that Ranem has had no contact with Ibrahim since then; also notes that Ibrahim was born in the UK and only speaks English; recognises that Ranem fears she will never see her son again; notes that Ibrahim's father Hamzah Faraj broke a court order preventing him from taking Ibrahim outside of the UK and is now wanted for child abduction; further notes that an investigation is needed to find out why the court order was not flagged by Border Force when Ibrahim was taken out the country; also notes that before the abduction Ranem requested that the Saudi embassy not issue a passport for Ibrahim; notes that Saudi Arabia is not party to the Hague Convention and that the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office cannot enforce the return of a child to the UK; and calls on the Government to work with Saudi authorities to find the best way to bring Ibrahim back to the UK so that he can be reunited with his mother.