US court awards $40 mn to man whose ex kidnapped sons

A United States court awarded over $40 million in damages Wednesday to a Boston father whose ex-wife kidnapped their two children and fled to Egypt with them in 2009.

The court in Massachusetts found that Colin Bower had incurred emotional, physical and financial costs through the loss of his sons and his tireless efforts to get them back.

The judge said he was “in the impossible position of having to place a dollar value on something that is intangible” such as the loss of one’s children.

The court found mother Mirvat El-Nady liable for $40 million in damages.

Bower had won sole custody of his two sons Noor, 10 and Ramsay, 12, after a bitter divorce with El-Nady, whom he met and married in Cairo in 1998.

The couple later moved to London and then Massachusetts in 2005, where their marriage fell apart.

El-Nady had a history of substance abuse and her ability to care for the children was questioned by a court during the custody dispute.

The children were visiting her in August 2009 when she drove them to John F. Kennedy International Airport and purchased three one-way tickets to Cairo on Egyptair.

A Facebook page set up by Bower called “Help Bring Noor and Ramsay Home” says she had obtained Egyptian passports for the boys under false names.

She has been charged in both state and federal court for kidnapping.

An Egyptian court granted El-Nady custody of the children, and authorized Bower to visit.

However, according to the court ruling, Bower was only able to see his children three times, despite flying to Egypt on at least 12 occasions, due to El-Nady refusing him access.

Bower testified that they were “unnatural visits, but at least I was able to put eyes on the children and spend some time with them.”

According to the court ruling Bower — who refers to the boys as Noorski Bear and Zman in a series of emotional messages on the Facebook page — is concerned about their wellbeing.

“He is also concerned that they are being indoctrinated in a radical Islamist strain of their Muslim faith and alienated against the United States and Western values. “

The judge recognized that “given the current strife in Egypt and the diminished diplomatic influence of the United States” it was unlikely the case would be resolved quickly.