Irish mother unable to travel to Egypt to secure return of kidnapped sons due to reported travel ban

Mandy Kelly has been battling to have her children returned to her care for the past four years, after they were kidnapped from her during a family holiday to Cairo. Picture: Gareth Chaney

An Irish mother has said she was unable to travel to Egypt to progress efforts to secure the return of her two young sons due to a lack of legal clarity surrounding a reported travel ban affecting the children.

Mandy Kelly, from Dundalk, Co Louth, has been battling to have her children returned to her care for the past four years, after they were kidnapped from her during a family holiday to Cairo.

Her boys Zayn, 7, Kareem, 5, have been living with their father and mother-in-law since then, and she has had no contact with them.

Ms Kelly has since obtained an order from the High Court here directing their return, and has had custody rulings in her favour from the Egyptian courts.

Irish and European arrest warrants have also been issued, alongside an Interpol yellow notice identifying the children as missing.

Ms Kelly said she had been expected to travel to Egypt two weeks ago to advance the case.

However, she said she was not provided with formal documentation “outlining the existence, scope or legal basis" of a travel ban affecting her children.

She said the reported ban was imposed in December 2021 in her absence and without her knowledge, prior to the children’s travel to Egypt in February 2022.

“In order to move this case forward, I was expected to travel to Egypt,” she told the Irish Examiner. “However, I was not provided with the basic legal clarity required to make an informed and safe decision.”

She said she feared if she travelled to Egypt and the children were returned to her "in a child friendly manner", then they all risk not being able to leave the country due to a travel ban.

Ms Kelly said she could not proceed “without a clear understanding of the legal position or the safeguards in place”.

Ms Kelly has also raised concerns about the absence of a structured safeguarding framework in cases involving non-Hague jurisdictions, and said Irish authorities had indicated limitations in their ability to assess risks within Egypt.

She also expressed concern about what she described as elements of “coercive control” within the case, including “continued restrictions on access to her children and to information about their welfare” despite Egyptian court rulings, which she said confirm the children should be in her care.

The matter has been raised again with the Department of Foreign Affairs here and other State bodies.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has made written representations to Egyptian authorities on Ms Kelly’s behalf, while the foreign affairs minister Helen McEntee raised the issue during a recent visit to the region.

Ms Kelly said this demonstrated the “key issues are well understood and that there is now an opportunity to build on existing engagement to bring the matter to a resolution”.

She said, given the level of awareness and the legal progress already made, “there is now an opportunity for decisive action to secure the safe return of her children".