B.C. mother pleads with Ottawa for help in returning children allegedly abducted to Lebanon by ex-husband

CBC News
Shelley Beyak James Alexander Michie

Shelley Beyak wants her children returned to Canada after Mia, 10, and Liam, 8, were taken to Lebanon 10 months ago by her ex-husband, who's wanted by the RCMP on a Canada-wide warrant. 'It's a horrible thing to see my children in this predicament ...,' says Beyak, who is calling on the prime minister for help. (Shelley Beyak/Facebook)

Shelley Beyak is a mother in B.C. who needs and asks Ottawa for help to give back to her children who have allegedly been abducted by her ex-husband.

Beyak’s ex-husband is Wissam Tarabichi, who is the subject of RCMP’s countrywide court order, took his son and daughter to Lebanon about 10 months ago. Certainly, Beyak thought that once she could reach Beirut, she would have the opportunity to fight to recover his two children, who were taken to the Lebanese capital by his ex-husband 10 months ago. However, since she landed in the city where she lived and where Mia, 10, and Liam, 8, were born, she has found hope to take them back home in Abbotsford, BC.

It is necessary to mention that because Canada has no jurisdiction in Lebanon and that the Lebanese religious courts favor the custody of the parents, there is nothing that Beyak can do to take them home. Despite this, the RCMP issued an arrest warrant throughout Canada for the arrest of her ex-husband.

There is no doubt that she is currently in a really complicated situation. Being that she herself said that the children seemed stressed, distrustful and conditioned by Tarabichi, who did not speak to her. Therefore, Beyak now tries to do everything in her power to recover her children. However, this may not be enough. Therefore, she is now asking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to intervene. “I need something tangible for the children to return home, I just can not do it on my own”, she said in a telephone interview from Beirut.

Encounters not as pleasant as I expected

Beyak and ex-husband Wissam Tarabichi have joint custody of the children. She says that in March, he told her he was going to take them to the United States for a week’s trip. Instead, after arriving in Seattle, they boarded a flight to Paris and then another to Beirut. For months Beyak had no contact with his children because Tarabichi refused to answer her calls.

Beyak has said that during her first visit to the children, they did not hug her the first time they saw her and that they left the room repeatedly during her visit which lasted several hours.

Meanwhile, there is already an arrest warrant in all of Canada for the arrest of Tarabichi on the allegations of the abduction of children, and warnings have been sent to Interpol that they have searched internationally.

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Source: Michelle Ghoussoub | CBC News

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