An armed assault on a Nasr City villa ended with the kidnapping of an Egyptian-American six-year-old. Gihan Shahine investigates a cross-cultural custody battle that has turned unexpectedly violent "I can't sleep until I know where my son is," said Hatem El-Bastawisy from his hospital bed. The 41-year-old civil engineer had a broken shoulder, severe bruises and a hemorrhaging left eye -- all the result of an armed assault by a vicious gang on his Nasr City villa. The attack seemed to have one main goal -- kidnapping El- Bastawisy's six-year-old son Ali. El-Bastawasi -- along with Egyptian police -- think his ex-wife Taraneh "Tary" Javad, an Iranian-American, is the prime suspect. El-Bastawasi, his sister Hanan, and Ali were asleep at home in the early hours of Thursday, when, at around 2am, about half a dozen masked men made their way into the villa and began wreaking havoc. "Ali was sleeping in my arms when, suddenly, three men, clad in black masks and suits, blasted into the room and bombarded me with severe blows," El-Bastawisy said. "All I cared about at the time was getting on top of my child, to protect him with my body, and fight back." By then a fourth masked man had appeared, and El-Bastawisy's valiant efforts proved futile. Ali was snatched away from his father, and then one of the men said, "Ali will be OK." When El-Bastawisy heard the attacker speak English, something clicked. He realised it was "an organised crime to kidnap the child". The small openings around the eyes in the assailants' masks also revealed white skin and blond eyelashes, prompting El- Bastawisy's suspicion that they were foreigners. "The attackers were not after money," El-Bastawisy said. "All they wanted was Ali." The gang made off with the boy and any communication equipment they could find -- so that the police could not be called. They even ignored the LE2000 on the bedroom dressing table. El-Bastawasi and his ex-wife had been involved in a prolonged custody dispute over Ali. Having immigrated to the US in 1991 to obtain a PhD in civil engineering from the University of Missouri- Rolla, El-Bastawisy had ended up with a successful career as the vice president of a national consulting firm. He married Javad in 1996. Their marriage was rocky from the very beginning, which El-Bastawisy attributed to cultural differences. By the time the 9/11 attacks took place, the marriage was almost over. "Ali's mum, however, wanted to make maximum gain from the [potential] divorce," El-Bastawisy said. "She used the sensitivity spread among the US public after 9/11 and accused me of being a violent Middle-Easterner who sought to kidnap her child." In response, El-Bastawisy filed for divorce and obtained temporary custody of Ali. Enraged, Javad played up the "scary Middle Easterner" stereotype of her ex-husband to maximum effect, and ended up attracting media attention to her case. El-Bastawisy found himself afraid of the impact his wife's aggressiveness would have on his child's safety and "of being put in jail and losing my child to a foster family, which would destroy him emotionally". The situation got so bad that the boy's school even asked El- Bastawisy to stop bringing him in, for fear the case would tarnish the school's reputation. Finding it impossible to go on in these circumstances, El- Bastawisy was left with "one single difficult choice of going back to Egypt". He said he "decided to come back to Egypt only when I found it necessary to provide my child with a better and more stable environment", despite the fact that he was already settled in the US, which was like "a second home" to him, and had never previously considered moving back to Egypt. Upon his arrival, El-Bastawisy sent an e-mail (via his lawyer) to the US court where the custody battle was ongoing, explaining why he was back in Egypt, and providing his current contact information. He also sent a detailed and apologetic letter to the judge. His plan, however, seemed to backfire, since Javad could now easily manipulate the case in her favour in his absence. In fact, she ended up obtaining both legal custody of Ali, as well as all of El- Bastawisy's assets. El-Bastawisy said he never prevented Ali's mother from seeing or calling her child. He even brought her to Egypt twice to explore the prospect of living here. Javad paid two nine-day visits to Cairo, during which, El-Bastawisy said, she was surprised to find that "every single card she sent [Ali] was kept in his room," with Ali knowing they were from his mum. "We always told Ali that the two who most loved him in the world were his mum and dad," El-Bastawisy said. "Ali's mum pretended to appreciate that and sent me thank you e-mails following her two visits to Egypt." On the second visit, El-Bastawisy says he even helped his ex-wife find a job, and offered her financial support in case she decided to settle. She went back to the US without committing to such a decision, but promised to pay the family another visit in December. Now investigators are saying that Javad actually made a third trip to Egypt earlier this month. They say she arrived two days before the attack, and left later on Thursday, after the child was kidnapped. Although investigators said she flew to Germany on 18 December, they refused to say for sure that Ali was with her. In fact, tight security measures have been ordered at all Egyptian borders to prevent the child's illegal exit. El-Bastawisy now thinks his ex-wife's previous visits "were actually part of a big deceitful plan to kidnap the child". El-Bastawisy denied press reports that his wife had sent him an e-mail admitting that she had the child. He said he did receive an e-mail concerning the kidnapping, but it was anonymous. After the attack, El-Bastawisy called his ex-wife's family in the US. "At first, they pretended to be astonished, but then, they refused to answer the phone and actually changed their number." Officials at the American Embassy in Cairo are not allowed to talk about the matter, since the US Privacy Act forbids any public comment by the embassy on individual consular cases without the express permission of those involved. Embassy Press Attaché Philip Frayne, however, told the Weekly that "the US Embassy respects and upholds the Egyptian as well as the American law, and does not condone the use of extralegal means by any party as a tool to resolve these very difficult and heart-breaking cases. "We understand the Egyptian law authorities are currently investigating the case, and we cannot speculate on the outcome of any pending investigation," Frayne said. El-Bastawisy regrets that "Ali's mother did not consider the safety of the child and the long-term impact this vicious attack would have on his emotional stability. I just pray to God that Ali's mother was there when the kidnappers took him away. It would limit the emotional damage my child was suffering if he woke up to see his mum by his side." The skillful organisation and dramatic nature of the attack was reminiscent of Hollywood gangster films. "It was horrible," a severely-bruised Hanan sobbed. "I literally faced death. They punched me so harshly and almost strangled me. The worst moment was that when they uncovered my thigh to give me the anesthetic shots." In fact, the kidnappers gave El-Bastawisy three shots of an anesthetic injection, taped his mouth and legs and tied his hands. His sister, who was sleeping in an adjacent room, received equally harsh blows and anesthetic shots. Hanan and El-Bastawisy remained drugged until 8am when they woke up to the harsh reality that Ali was gone and that they were helplessly tied up, physically exhausted, and had no access to a telephone. "I could hear people out in the streets, but could not even scream for help," Hanan recounted. "I was helpless." El-Bastawisy, however, managed to roll himself out of bed and, fortunately enough, he found the base of his wireless telephone left behind and functioning. He somehow managed to make a call to friends, who immediately called the police and hurried for help. Amal, Hanan's friend, and her husband were the first to arrive on the scene. "To our surprise, we found all the doors were locked, and not a single door or window was broken," Amal told the Weekly. Amal added that the kidnappers were probably too professional to make any noise, and that even the porter of an adjacent building had no clue that there had been an attack. Whether that means the attackers had keys and a blueprint of the villa is for the police to confirm, but for Amal, what really mattered was "the bad physical and psychological condition" the El- Bastawisys were in. El-Bastawisy said that it appeared that "international organised crime groups [had managed] to penetrate into Egypt utilising the privileges the government provides at its entries to boost tourism. We want to create a kind of legislation which would resolve issues of international custody disputes, taking into consideration religious and cultural understanding in order to protect our children's well-being." He vowed to "make those who kidnapped [his child] pay for their act through legal and proper channels. "I promise Ali to act and behave in a way that serves his best interest, regardless of mine," El- Bastawisy pledged.
