THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 27, 1996 TAG: 9601270233
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH SIMPSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
A woman who traveled to Syria to find her kidnapped 5-year-old daughter returned alone to Hampton Roads on Friday after a fruitless search.
Maureen Dabbagh, who hasn't seen her daughter in three years, spent five days in the Middle East this week searching for her daughter, Nadia, who is believed to be living with Dabbagh's ex-husband.
``I did not want to get on that plane and come home without her,'' Dabbagh said Friday from her home in Virginia Beach. ``It was very difficult. If it weren't for the fact that I am so exhausted, I wouldn't be taking it so well.''
Dabbagh had the cooperation of U.S. Embassy officials and the Syrian government while she was there, but her ex-husband and daughter were no longer living at the latest address she had for them.
The trip to Syria to look for Nadia was Dabbagh's second. She had traveled there in October, and was able to secure custody of her daughter in Syrian courts, a process that is so difficult and uncertain that most American parents in her situation don't pursue it.
``The first time I went, I knew where Nadia was, but I didn't have the right paperwork. The second time I had paperwork but she wasn't there. They say three times lucky, so maybe next time I'll bring her home.''
Dabbagh said Syrian authorities told her they would continue to look for her daughter, and that they would contact her as soon as they have a valid address for the girl and her father.
Nadia Dabbagh disappeared three years ago during a court-ordered visit with her father, who was living in Florida at the time. Dabbagh received full custody of her daughter in U.S. courts shortly after that, and also secured a federal warrant for her ex-husband's arrest on charges of international parental abduction.
Dabbagh had hoped this week's trip to Syria would be the final step in retrieving her daughter, but after five days of searching, she had to return home.
``I was there on a very specific budget,'' Dabbagh said. ``I couldn't stay there day after day. But she's still being looked for. And I'm not giving up.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by CHRISTOPHER REDDICK/The Virginian-Pilot
Maureen Dabbagh hasn't seen her daughter, Nadia, 5, in three years.
The girl is believed to be living with Dabbagh's ex-husband.
KEYWORDS: CUSTODY PARENTAL ABDUCTION KIDNAPPING
by CNB