Sunday, August 21, 2011

Update on Peggy and Soraya

My post entitled 'Child Abduction Warning' detailed the case of Peggy and Soraya, a German mother who had her daughter kidnapped from her here in Egypt. This blog has garnered a great deal of attention, and I can now provide an update, albeit brief, on how the situation has developed.

In the last blog, I had mentioned how the next step for Peggy would be to get a lawyer. The lawyer that she had originally been working with (who might I add is also on the list of lawyer's recommended by the German Embassy) took from Peggy 30,000 Euro, yet provided no credible leads or steps forward in her case.

Urged by the help of people online, Peggy was able to connect with a female lawyer in Egypt who is well known for her work with the custodial battle of Ahmed al-Fishawy.

Fishawy is an Egyptian actor who in 2006 went down in history in the Egyptian courts. Fishawy got caught up in a romance with costume designer Hend el-Hinnawy, and allegedly married her through an Urfi contract. Urfi contracts enable a man and woman to have sexual relations in Egypt, as it is a non-official common-law "marriage", a hotly contested subject in Egyptian culture. Fishawy impregnated Hinnawy during their courtship, and promptly turned around and denied paternity of the child. Hinnawy proved that she was a fighter, and brought the case all the way into the courtrooms, and made history in doing so. Hinnawy's lawyer, Mamdouh el Weseimy, filed a paternity suit against Fishawy, which ultimately led to proving that he was in fact the father of the child that he had so vehemently denied. From that moment on, DNA testing in a paternity suit was considered admissible evidence in an Egyptian courtroom.

So how does this story relate to Peggy?

Only in that an associate of the same lawyer who worked with Hinnawy is now working on Peggy's case. She has recommended that Peggy will have to stay in Egypt if she plans to prove legal custody of Soraya, and the process has already begun. Sources have told me, although this remains unconfirmed, that Peggy may first have to return to Germany to raise enough money to pay for all the legal proceedings, but at least we now know that the wheels have been set in motion.

I will post any updates as I receive them. Let's hope for now that Peggy may actually really be able to see light at the end of the tunnel.

For more reading on the case of Ahmed el-Fishawy see the following links:

Stunning Revelation

Hennawi vs. Fishawy: The Final Chapter? 

Egypt's grand mufti allows controversial marriage

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