United States v. Amer

110 F.3d 873 (2nd Cir. 1997)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Ahmed (H) and Mona (W) were Egyptian citizens and adherents of Islam. They were married in Egypt in 1980 and gave birth to their first son there. H sought his fortunes in the U.S., left his wife and son in Egypt, and settled in Queens. W and the son joined H in 1987. They had another child two years later, and W stayed at home while H worked as a cook. A third son was born. The two children born in the U.S. became American Citizens upon their birth. H then became a naturalized citizen in 1992 and W obtained permanent alien resident status. They visited Egypt in 1992. Things began to turn sour when H and W fought over H's bigamous marriage to another, and the fights included verbal and physical abuse. H then moved out of the apartment and began to suggest that they move back to Egypt, but W did not want to and supported herself on public assistance and loans from friends. H threatened to kill W. H then kidnapped the children and took them to Egypt. W filed a complaint in court for custody, and it was granted. The court issued a warrant for H's arrest. W obtained an order from an Egyptian court ordering W to return to the conjugal home. After the failure to return in three months, the Egyptian court awarded H custody (the oldest son was 12, and under their law, the mother loses custody of any son over 10). H returned to the U.S leaving the children in his mother's care. H was arrested and convicted of violating the IPKCA. H was sentenced to 24 months and a one year supervised release with the special condition that H returns the children. H appealed; the children are in Egypt.