A young couple whose pictures were placed on the Interpol website after they fled abroad to hide their baby from social workers have promised never to return to Britain. [Good]
Yunus Chhatbar and Safiya Reheman have accused their local council of trying to remove their son, now nine months old, and put him up for adoption.
The British-born couple flew to Northern Cyprus last autumn and were the subject of an international alert when their names and photos were placed on the missing persons’ section of the Interpol website.
On the run: Yunus Chhatbar (left) and Safiya Reheman have fled to Northern Cyprus to hide their baby Momo from social workers in Leicester.
But until a ruling made in the Family Division of the High Court, they could not be identified because of the secrecy surrounding the family courts.
At the hearing Mr Chhatbar, 29, told the judge via videolink that they had bought a ‘one-way ticket’ to Northern Cyprus, which has broken away from Cyprus and has no extradition treaty with Britain and does not recognise UK law.
The couple, who formerly lived in Leicester, renew their 90-day visitors’ visas by going to the border with Cyprus and getting their papers stamped without leaving the safety of Northern Cyprus. They can carry on doing this indefinitely, they say.
Leicester City Council social workers argue that their son Abdurrahman, known as Momo, must be returned to the UK where he is still ‘habitually resident’ because of his parents’ social and family links.
The judge Mr Justice Mostyn said that the couple, who met two years ago, could be breaking the law by refusing to bring their child back.
But over the videolink from Northern Cyprus, Mr Chhatbar told him: ‘Good luck in trying to find us. I do not believe your court has jurisdiction over us. We are never coming back to England.’
Financial adviser Mr Chhatbar and travel agent Miss Reheman, 19, fled after a relative made an allegation to Leicester city council social services that Mr Chhatbar had a violent past.
Search: The picture of Momo and his mother used on the Interpol website
It is a claim the couple vigorously deny, but social workers warned them to split up so Momo could live with Miss Reheman in safety or else they would seize the baby.
Last Friday the family’s story was recounted during an extraordinary hearing in London when the couple backed an application by the Daily Mail to lift reporting restrictions on the case. Mr Justice Mostyn said it would be ‘absurd’ to impose a reporting ban because the family’s details were already on the Interpol website.
The judge emphasised at the beginning of the hearing that it was not being heard in secret. Waiving the couple and baby’s anonymity in a ground-breaking ruling, he said again later: ‘I have explained repeatedly this is not a secret court.’
It was an important decision because the Mail has vigorously campaigned against family court cases being held behind closed doors. Often, strict reporting restrictions are imposed against the wishes of parents or family members who appear there.
Last night Lib Dem MP John Hemming, who has demanded more openness in the family courts, said: ‘Many, many families are escaping abroad to avoid having their children taken by social services which like a veil of secrecy in these courts because it hides any wrong decisions, of which there are many, by them.’
Speaking from Northern Cyprus yesterday, Miss Reheman said: ‘The social workers said that if I stayed with Yunus they would take our newborn son into care and get him adopted in less than four months.
‘I was scared they would take Momo so we decided to make the move to Northern Cyprus.
‘A few days later the social services found out we had gone. They went to the family court and were granted orders to recover Momo, and make him a ward of court without our knowledge. It meant the state officially became his “parents” and we were being treated like our own baby’s abductors.
‘We were horrified when we found out our son’s picture was plastered all over the Interpol website alongside criminals, terrorists and murderers who are on the run.
‘We have been forced to live like fugitives, but we cannot let them take our son.’
The family have rented a flat in Northern Cyprus, where Miss Reheman lived for two years as a child.
She added: ‘We want to settle here so Momo is safe with us for ever. Why would we return to a country that wants to take your baby and give him to strangers?’
In court the barrister for Leicester social services said they still want Momo brought back to Britain. Another hearing is scheduled in a month’s time.
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