A mother who fears her son could be killed in the expected Israeli bombardment of Lebanon has made a desperate plea to Sir Keir Starmer for help to save him.
Catherine Flanagan’s son David was taken to Beirut by his father and her ex-husband Mustapha Nahle in 2022 – and he has refused to send him back despite a High Court order last July.
In June, a six-month jail sentence in absentia was handed down to anesthesiologist Nahle, 37, for failure to comply.
Ms Flanagan, 39, from Belfast, who has dual British and Irish citizenship, chocked back tears and urged the prime ministers of both countries to intervene so David – who turns three in eight days – can leave the country be turned off before it is broadcast. The room was closed by the Israelis tonight.
She said: ‘I’m absolutely terrified of David. It would be bad enough if Mustapha tried to get out with David, but he can’t, and that scares me even more. I’m afraid he might be killed or injured.’
Catherine Flanagan, pictured with her son David Nahle, has urged the British and Irish governments to intervene to bring her son home from Lebanon
Smoke rises over Beirut’s southern suburbs during the Israeli attack on September 27
“I need Sir Keir Starmer and the Prime Minister, Simon Harris, to tell the Lebanese that David is leaving and leaving now. It must be done before the airspace is closed.
“The Foreign Office has been involved in this case for the past two years, but I have the feeling that nothing is happening.”
Asked if she worries she may never see her son again, an emotional Mrs Flanagan said: “Of course, of course.”
She added: “I feel completely helpless. I feel let down by the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister and the Foreign Office.
“I feel like David’s father, who loves him, is not putting David’s best interests first.”
Ms Flanagan, a charity worker, said she understands that David will be cared for by his paternal grandmother Fatima, while Nahle will work as chairman of the anesthesia department at Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the largest medical facility in Beirut.
She said Nahle is known to the Iran-backed Hezbollah authorities in Beirut because of his high position.
She last saw her son when she went to visit in January – a trip she made because “I was specifically told that if I came he would let me take David home,” which was not the case.
Ms Flanagan married Nahle, who she fell for as a ‘lovable nerd’, in April 2021, and David was born on October 10 that year – but the relationship quickly fell apart.
The Home Office rejected Nahle’s visa application to remain in Britain and he left with David in August 2022.
David was brought to Beirut by his father and her ex-husband Mustapha Nahle in 2022
People and rescue workers gather at the rubble of a building destroyed by the Israeli airstrike
Smoke rises over buildings in Beirut, Lebanon on September 27 after an airstrike
Ms Flanagan said she just wants her son returned, adding she has told the court she will allow Nahle to visit him whenever he wants.
The mother, who was granted custody orders through the High Court in Belfast, revealed that her fears had been developing even before the prospect of an Israeli invasion as air strikes have been carried out repeatedly on Beirut in recent weeks.
She said: ‘Every time I see there’s been an air raid I check exactly where that is in relation to the different places I know they might have David.’
Nahle – whose hospital is funded by the UN agency the World Health Organization – was tracked down by the BBC in Beirut in recent weeks and said he had been granted custody of David by a Lebanese court and would not return him.
He said: ‘I am Lebanese, I live in Lebanon, I obey Lebanese laws. That’s it. I feel that David is safe and that I have taken some safety measures.
‘In the world, in our lives, we don’t have one hundred percent security, in Britain they don’t have that; in Belfast there are riots, there are also race riots.’
An FCDO spokesperson said this afternoon: ‘We have provided consular assistance to a British woman who was in Lebanon and had been in contact with local authorities.’
The State Department said it has recommended the use of a local lawyer in Lebanon and that guidelines say it should not become involved in efforts to return a child even if a court orders it.
Miceál O’Hurley, a mediator working on behalf of Ms Flanagan, said: ‘Given the persistence of governments in dealing with these disputes, I want Mustapha to know he has an off-ramp.
‘I met him (Nahle) in Beirut in August and arranged an evacuation flight for David in case there was a breakthrough – but the (last) British humanitarian flight left today.
“I remain prepared to work with all parties if a new opportunity arises to help David out of trouble.”
Ms Flanagan is raising money through GoFundMe for legal fees in Lebanon to secure David’s return.