A Pakistani man from Skokie, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, was indicted last week for international parental kidnapping of his three children and traveling with them to Turkey without their mother’s consent, permission or knowledge according to a June 1 release from the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.
Murtaza Ali, 44, a Pakistani national was charged with one count of international parental kidnapping by a federal grand jury. He was arrested on May 6 upon his return to O’Hare International Airport with the children, and remains in federal custody. International parental kidnapping carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Ali’s case however, is a rare one in which an alleged offending parent has been indicted. But the general experience in international parental abductions is disappointing, according to Indian-Americans caught up in these situations. Also, in Ali’s case the period of the alleged child abductions was fairly short, from May 2 to May 6, unlike most cases where one parent is not able to see their child or children for years. That has been the experience of numerous Indian-American parents who have taken the issue to the U.S. Congress and pressured the State Department to engage New Delhi to take action against parents who have allegedly abducted children and Indian courts have actually granted them custody. They have formed organizations such as Bring Our Kids Home, and have aligned with parents of Latin American origin as well as other immigrant parents who have suffered similar experiences. The State Department recently told BOKHome founder Ravi Parmar that the matter of parental abductions had been broached with the government of India during a high level diplomatic visit, Parmar told News India Times.
According to the court documents, Ali has 3 minor children with an individual identified only as ‘A’. According to Individual A, on the evening of May 2, she was at a social gathering. Ali, along with the three children, was scheduled to pick her up after the event. He did not pick her up, and when she arrived home, Ali and the three children were not home, the house was a mess, and the passports and luggage were missing. An investigation by Skokie Police Department determined Ali’s last known location was believed to be near O’Hare Airport.
Ali, along with the three children, boarded a Turkish Airlines flight at O’Hare Airport and arrived in Istanbul, Turkey on May 2. According to Individual A, Ali called her from Turkey and stated that he had the three children and that he was traveling to Pakistan. According to information obtained from Turkish Airlines and other law enforcement agents, there was reason to believe that Ali was planning to board a flight from Turkey bound for Karachi, with the children. He was arrested on a federal complaint when he and his three children returned to the United States on May 6.
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