The mother of two Irish boys abducted in Cairo has been requested by the Egyptian authorities to attend court in July, following an application for the return of her children.
Mandy Kelly’s sons were taken by their Egyptian father during a family holiday in Cairo in March 2022, after he locked her in an apartment and took them away in a car.
The mother of two from Dundalk in Co Louth has not seen her children Zayn, aged six, and Kareem, aged 3, who were born in Ireland, since then.
In a new development on Thursday, Ms Kelly has been requested to attend the office of the state prosecutor in Cairo, where she has been asked to meet with authorities in relation to the return of her children.
“I feel incredibly anxious because of the current update on the Department of Foreign Affairs about travelling to Egypt” she told the .
“There is a warning of high caution that Irish citizens are requested not to visit due to security reasons.
“However, I am doing my best to consider this.
“Civil proceedings are to begin in September also, but I’ve received a new notice, and a new development in the case to go over there next month.
“I am still awaiting a response from the Minister for Justice here after our meeting on April 11, and I want a response from her.
“I’m taking this request very seriously, and I will be meeting the chief prosecutor in Cairo and telling him my story.”
She continued: “The pain continues no matter what I haven’t seen my children since March 2022. I want the public to know that my ex-partner has refused mediation with members of clergy in his own country.
“This is not just only a tug-of-war this is a lot more serious.”
Ms Kelly made an application to the courts in Cairo after exhausting all other avenues in her efforts to have her children returned to her.
Egypt is not signed up to The Hague Convention on child abductions, making it difficult to have the children brought home by the Irish State.
Ms Kelly, who first told her harrowing story in the has said she is in a “living hell” since her children were taken.
During a visit to Egypt to see their grandmother in April 2022, the children’s father Ramy Gamal Maamoun Mohamed locked their mother Mandy in an apartment and took the children away in a car.
