Saudi Gazette CAIRO — A four-year-old Egyptian boy is now safely back with his father after his Swiss-national ex-wife kidnapped the boy and attempted to take him to Syria with her, where she intended to join Daesh. The story of four-year-old Adam Mahmoud Aladin has trended across Egyptian social media since the boy's mother kidnapped him. The Swiss woman lived in Cairo with the child, but took Adam without his father's permission to Alexandria and Marsa Matrouh before taking an 8-hour boat ride to Greece where she was arrested at a border checkpoint trying to cross into Turkey and Syria. The father, Mahmoud Aladin, posted on Facebook on Dec. 7: "My son was kidnapped on Sunday evening by a lady wearing a niqab (veil worn by some muslim women), which is his mother after joining radical terroristic takfeery and militant groups. She kidnapped him trying to get out of Egypt in order to join them in Iraq or Syria, please if anyone can help I can't describe the pain and grief I am in." After few days Mahmoud received news from Greek authorities that she was arrested with the child at the border, so he traveled directly to Greece to try to get back his son. Before the court issued their verdict to return Adam to his father, Mahmoud wrote on Facebook asking people to pray that he would be able to get his son back, writing about him: "You have been my companion in every step that made me happy since your birth." A Greek court eventually issued a verdict to give Mahmoud full custody for Adam on January 8. According to news reports, the Swiss mother confessed to the judge that she traveled with the child illegally, and that she intended to travel Raqqah in Syria. In an interview with Egypt's Dream TV channel, Adam's grandmother, Maha Mahmoud, said that the Swiss mother had asked to join Arabic language schools to learn Arabic, and that she believes she met people there who radicalized her and convinced her to join Daesh. The grandmother said the woman started to cover her hair and face, and asked her husband to quit his job, saying it was haram. "She started to ask him to grow a beard and tried many times to break his razor to prevent him from shaving. She asked him to change his normal outfit to the outfit that extremist groups members usually wear, and asked him many times to join her in traveling to Iraq or Syria to join Daesh." Adam's father said in his phone call with Egyptian television channel Dream, that when he noticed these changes on his with her left her and reported the Egyptian security about her. Adam's father left the woman two years ago after her behavior changed. The grandmother said: "she came to Egypt like any European, she converted to Islam and got married to my son, she was moderate." She added that the Swiss family of the ex-wife was not pleased with their daughter's conversion, and stopped talking with her because she kept telling them they were infidels. Adam's grandfather, Aladin Mahmoud, said in an interview with Dream that a member from the organization helped her to travel and try and join Daesh, and he said that they found messages and conversations on her personal laptop.
