Woman wants return of her ‘kidnapped’ boys

Jolly Bimbachi is hoping to be able to speak with her son Omar on his birthday Monday but she’s aware that may not happen.

Omar, who turns seven, and his five-year-old brother Abdel-Ghaniy (A.G. for short) haven’t seen their mother in almost a year after Jolly’s husband (and the boys’ father) Ali Ahmad didn’t return from a trip there last May
“He’s kidnapped them,” she said. “It’s been the worst time of my life.”

A native of Lebanon who moved to Canada when she was eight, Jolly had returned to Lebanon to teach when she met her husband.

They married in 2008 and came back to Canada in 2012.

“When we met and got married it was always our plan to come back and live in Canada,” she said. “There was never any discussion to the contrary.”

That option become more crucial due to the political instability in the region.

“We were in Tripoli (in northern Lebanon) and there was fighting and a lot of strikes.”

The couple applied to move to Canada in 2010 but civil war in Syria derailed the process.

“I was worried for my kids’ safety,” she said. “We wanted them to be safe.”

The couple was settling into a comfortable life here.

Jolly found work as a professor, her husband took a course in English and eventually secured a job as well.

“Life was good, as far as I knew,” she said. “I put the boys in French Immersion. The kids were two and three and a half when we came here and they didn’t speak a word of French. Within a year of starting at school, they were exceling.”

Her husband and the two boys left May 18 and were supposed to return a month later.

“My husband’s mother wasn’t well and he was going to sell a house we owned there. After he’d been there for a short time I got a call from an uncle in Lebanon saying the boys aren’t coming back.”

Frantically, she called and Ali told her he’d been planning his actions for 18 months.
“He confirmed it – it was always his plan,” she said. “I didn’t want the boys to go because I knew I would miss them so much but I had no idea this would happen. It’s not the typical cliché story.”

Jolly’s contact with the boys is infrequent and sporadic.

“I usually get a call from them at about the time that would be their bedtime in Lebanon,” she said. “They’re tired and sometimes cranky. I know my boys, when they need to sleep they need to sleep. We don’t get to talk much at all.”

Jolly received full custody of the children in October but has resisted the urge to go to Lebanon to get the children back.

“I’m worried about going because (according to Lebanese law) as long as we’re married he has the right as my husband to stop me. He could take my passport and make me stay there,” she said. “I’m in the process of divorcing him but even then it will be difficult on my own.”

Jolly has been in contact with the Chatham-Kent Police Service who are investigating her kidnapping complaint, Foreign Affairs Canada and Chatham-Kent-Essex MP Dave Van Kesteren.

Jolly said her husband took their savings and a lot of personal property when he left, making life financially difficult.

“The money’s gone,” she said. “It’s taken me months just to get back on my feet.”

Jolly is getting support from her friends, students and those in the community who know the situation.

A friend of Jolly’s from Mississauga started a petition on change.org April 10 asking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to intervene.

Since that time, the petition has garnered support from virtually every part of the world including Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia and the United States.

Sentiments include:

This is inhumane. This woman deserves her children.

Trish Roche, Ottawa, Canada

I am signing this petition because I want these kids to go back to their mom, it’s not fair what happened to both the mom and the kids, I am a mother of 4 kids and I would die if my kids have been taken away from me.

ABIR GADALLA, Fremont, CA

The court gave custody to mom; that is where the kids should be no matter what laws there are between countries.

Sondra Lahay, Windsor, Canada

I’m signing because no child deserves to be separated from his mom!

Assia Hammoud, Tripoli, Lebanon

Jolly said international parental kidnapping is an epidemic threat that has separated many children from their parents.

“This cannot continue to go on,” she said. “So many lives have been destroyed already.”

While she waits, Jolly fills her Facebook page with photos and notes about her boys.

An item she originally posted a year ago recently showed up on her feed. It was a series of photos of

AG dated April 20, less than a month before he left.

“This little monkey is the sweetest kid you could ever meet. He changed my world since the first day I laid eyes on him. I am not just saying that because he’s my son. I’m just so lucky to have such a special boy. Today he called me his best girl.”Bottom of Form