Al-Ahram Weekly | Egypt

		24 - 30 October 2002 Issue No. 609 Home news	Current issue Previous issue Site map
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Recommend this page

Swiss flight
An Egyptian father appealed to President Mubarak to order an investigation into the disappearance of his ex-wife with their three children from the Swiss Embassy, where she took refuge for five months, Mona El-Nahhas reports

After five months at the Swiss Embassy in Cairo, Elizabeth Hodlz disappeared on 9 October with her three children -- 15-year-old Khaled, 13- year-old Tarek and 11-year-old Anwaar -- leaving the children's Egyptian father -- her ex- husband -- angry and distraught.
Whether Hodlz and the children are still in Egypt or have fled to Switzerland, remains a mystery.
Mohamed Fawzi Malash, who learned of his children's departure from the Swiss Embassy two days after the fact, immediately sent telegrammes to the ministers of justice, information and interior, requesting an investigation into his children's whereabouts and to determine who was responsible for their disappearance. Having received no reply, Malash appealed to President Hosni Mubarak on Saturday, asking him to intervene. "All I want to know is where my children are. If they are in Switzerland, that means I will never see them again."
Malash and Hodlz became embroiled in a custody battle over their children five months ago. Malash obtained a court order in Egypt granting him custody, while Hodlz obtained a temporary court order from the Swiss judiciary that puts her in charge of the youngsters.
However, on 17 May, Hodlz took refuge at the Swiss Embassy. She insisted that she would not leave until she was allowed to take the children to Switzerland, claiming that they were unable to adapt to life in Egypt. Since then, Hodlz refused to meet anybody except embassy officials.
Hodlz was divorced from Malash in 2000 after an eleven-year marriage during which the couple lived in Switzerland. After they divorced, Malash returned to Egypt with the children. Hodlz later came to Egypt where she lived with her children at her ex-mother-in-law's home.
Malash discovered that his children were no longer at the embassy when he went there last week in a desperate bid to meet them. When he asked about his children, officials at the embassy reluctantly told him that they were fine. But Malash sensed that the officials were hedging and upon insisting, they told him to "go to the Foreign Ministry to find out everything", recounted Malash.
Officials at the Foreign Ministry were initially reluctant to meet Malash or explain the situation to him. "I kept going there for three days, but I was told that the concerned official was too busy to meet me," he said. "Then, finally, I managed to meet the minister's assistant for consular affairs. He told me that my children were not at the embassy and that the relevant authorities had been informed."
Malash also went to the office of Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher and was told that a detailed report on the case had been submitted to the minister, who would contact the Swiss Foreign Ministry about the case.
Peter Nelson, first secretary at the Swiss Embassy, told Al-Ahram Weekly that Hodlz, as a Swiss citizen, has every right to come and go from the embassy as she pleases. "She was not imprisoned in the embassy. We do not have any idea about the current whereabouts of the mother and the children. The embassy had nothing to do with their disappearance," Nelson said.
During a second meeting with Swiss Embassy personnel, Malash says he was told that Hodlz and the children had left the embassy on 9 October without prior notification. Upon entering the family's room, embassy personnel found it empty, Malash says embassy officials told him. "How could they expect me to believe such a half-backed story?" Malash asked.
Last March, Malash was able to secure a legal travel ban on the children. "So, it would be impossible for Hodlz to take the children to Switzerland -- unless there is something fishy going on," he said.

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