Custody Dispute Reaches International Levels

Matter of Ahmad v. Naviwala, 92611, involves a devout Muslim couple with four children. Samia N. Ahmad and Iqbal M. Naviwala were married in 1986 and divorced in 1999. Mrs. Ahmad received an order of sole custody. Under the agreement, the noncustodial parent would receive 3 months of continuous visitation annually. However, after consulting Islamic law scholars, the couple agreed that sole custody would be transferred to Mr. Naviwala in 2000. In June 2000, before Mr. Naviwala was given sole custody, he brought the children to Saudi Arabia, where he now lives, for his 3-month visitation.

While there, he apparently obtained a sole custody decree from an Islamic court, kept the children in the Middle East and denied the mother any contact with them. Two years later, Mrs. Ahmad learned her former husband and children were planning a trip to Texas. She obtained an order from Broome County (NY) Family Court, and the children were seized in Texas and returned to New York. At a subsequent custody hearing, Mr. Naviwala testified that he had reneged on the negotiated agreement because the mother was not properly schooling the children, because they were thriving in their new environment, and because his new wife was the equal of the old one. He was willing to afford the mother 4 weeks of visitation every 2 years. Supporting her position, Mrs. Ahmad offered the testimony of a forensic psychologist, an attorney specializing in international child custody disputes, and an expert in child abductions involving Middle Eastern countries. Regardless, Broome County Family Court Judge Herbert B. Ray awarded custody to the father. Judge Ray noted that Saudi Arabia is not a signatory to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, and that there was no way for Mrs. Ahmad to enforce any visitation rights when the children were at their father's home.