Politics & Government

Mother Accuses Tunisian Embassy of Aiding Kidnapping

Two children have been taken out of the country by their Tunisian-born father

On Nov. 12, Édeanna Johnson-Chebbi received the phone call she had feared since leaving an abusive relationship with her husband nearly two years ago.

"This is the worst phone call of your life. I have the kids, we're in Tunisia," said Faical Chebbi, according to Johnson-Chebbi, his ex-wife.

The day before, Faical Chebbi, a native of Tunisia, had taken their children through the Tunisian Embassy, where Johnson-Chebbi says Tunisian officials enabled the kidnapping of her two U.S.-born children.

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Before being taken to Tunisia, the children attended schools in Oakton — Eslam, 5, at and Zainab, 2, at , both on Hunter Mill Road.

"I had full legal and physical custody by a mutual, consensual agreement and [the embassy] had documents of that. And protective orders. It's like they just didn't care," said Johnson-Chebbi, a Fairfax resident who says her American heritage dates back to before the Civil War.

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Her ex-husband had recently received his first court order to pay child support since the divorce two years ago.

The embassy also had a warning from Johnson-Chebbi, who called them long before the Nov. 11 incident to tell embassy officials she feared her husband would follow through with threats to take them out of the country. After months of curt responses, she was assured she would be informed if Tunisian passports were requested for her children, according to a letter she wrote to Tunisian Ambassador Mohamed Salah Tekaya.

And yet it happened. Though Johnson-Chebbi had possession of Eslam's and Zainab's passports at the time of their departure, her husband had passports and Tunisian birth certificates reissued at the Tunisian Embassy — even though her children were born on U.S. soil.

She said she has been told the embassy stands by its decision to issue the documents to her ex-husband because the decision is in accordance with Tunisian law, and they argue the Tunisian Embassy is Tunisian soil. She has also been told every request for passports cannot be reviewed because of time constraints.

"Really what is happening is that on U.S. soil you have an embassy of another country who knowingly breaks U.S. law and allows their citizens to kidnap children out of the country," she said.

She believes the problem at the embassy does not lie with inefficient workers, but a cultural mindset that allows the father to have ultimate authority over children, despite a family's circumstances.

Johnson-Chebbi said she has the support of the State Department, FBI, state police and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

In addition to creating a Facebook page and starting an online petition to spread word of her children's abduction and others like it, Johnson-Chebbi organized a rally that had about 40 participants protesting in front of the Tunisian Embassy on Monday.

"My biggest ask and need right now is for diplomatic pressure. From one diplomat to another. From the State Department to the embassy. From the senators to the ambassador or foreign minister," she said. "I think it should be a huge diplomatic interest of the United States and our senators, our governors, our State Department representatives, our Secretary of State and probably even our president. But, you know, I'm also a mother who is pissed off."

She has had intermittent contact with Eslam and Zainab through Skype and telephone, but it is always monitored. Johnson-Chebbi has tried to stay calm when talking with her kids because she does not want them to be scared or feel like they've been kidnapped, though her son has said he was told by his father he would not be able to go back to the U.S. until college.

"He's confused, he doesn't know what to think," Johnson-Chebbi said. "In my conversations with them, I try to keep it as normal as possible. There's no use getting a 5-year-old and a 2-year-old caught up in emotions they don't understand."

She said she has had enormous support from her workplace, the National Education Association, and her friends have been forwarding her emails to their own friends to spread awareness. Weeks after she asked people to send an email on her behalf to the ambassador of Tunisia, she has heard from the ambassador that he is still receiving the emails.

"I have had the best support system through all of this," she said. "And sometimes I'll get to a point where I'm like, 'Well I don't know what to do next' and someone calls and offers suggestions. It's amazing. People keep coming out of nowhere to help."

And she fully intends to pay it forward once her children are back home with her. She said she's heard from other people who have gone through or are still going through similar situations, and she wants to figure out how to stop it.

Johnson-Chebbi said she is glad she is in the U.S. instead of Tunisia while fighting this battle, but that fact is also what angers her the most.

"I am absolutely a believer in the democratic process. And the fact that I live on U.S. soil, I'm an American in America, and there's an embassy here for another country that has the arrogance to tell me that they don't care about U.S. law because it's not Tunisian law, and they're sitting here in the United States, really irritates me," she said.

Representatives for the Tunisian Embassy were not available for comment Monday night.


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