CAIRO: Colin Bower, a father of two young boys, was able to see his sons in Egypt for the first time in years this past weekend. Bower and his ex-wife Mirvat El Nady were divorced in 2008, after which Bower was granted full custody of his children. Nady was given limited visitation rights. Using fake Egyptian passports, Nady kidnapped the boys during one of her visits and brought them to Cairo on an EgyptAir flight out of JFK International Airport in New York. Bower had not seen his sons since then. However, through six months of negotiations aided by Senator John Kerry, US Embassy officials helped to arrange a visit between the father and his sons. Bower called the 90-minute visit with his sons Noor and Ramsy, now ages 7 and 9, a “Godsend,” and “profound.” US Embassy officials and Bower's former wife stood by to observe the visit. Bower said that he is hopeful that US Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson could help to return the boys to their father in the United States. He expressed suspicion that his ex-wife and her family were protected by the regime of former President Hosni Mubarak, as the boys were allowed to stay in the country with their mother despite the illegality of the situation. Egypt is not party to the Hague Convention, and has no legal arrangement with the United States for cases of parental abduction. Bower took legal action against EgyptAir for failing to notice that Nady and her sons used false identification when they left the United States in 2009. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/a05BM Tags: Anns Patterson, EgyptAir, featured, John Kerry Section: Egypt, Latest News
