Judges have ordered the arrest of a Malaysian man who abducted his son and took him to Dubai.
The man defied an order by Dubai Personal Status Court awarding custody to his ex-wife, who is still waiting to be reunited with her son, and remains at large.
The court heard how the man took his son from Malaysia in December 2018, two years after he and the child’s mother got a divorce.
He brought the nine-year-old to Dubai after claiming that he was taking the boy on a holiday.
Then the man stopped responding to the child's Malaysian mother, 38. Instead, he sent her messages threatening to take the boy away.
The woman filed a custody case against her ex-husband but it was dismissed by Dubai's Courts of First Instance and Appeal because of lack of jurisdiction.
At the Cassation Court however, this was overturned and a new panel of judges at Dubai's Personal Status Court heard her case again.
Judge Faraj Al Galawi was told the man breached an undertaking he signed in a Malaysian court pledging to bring the boy back.
He also heard how the man had not been providing for his family in their home country.
An application for his arrest was filed by Emirati lawyer, Awatif Khouri, representing the child’s mother.
The court awarded custody of the child to his mother - who arrived to Dubai on July 8 when restrictions on international flights were eased - hoping to be reunited with her son.
“A mother is the most deserving of the custody of her child,” he said in his judgement.
After the man failed to follow the ruling ordering him to hand the boy to his mother, an application for his arrest was filed with the court.
Police discovered he had resigned his job and are now trying to locate him. He has also been hit with a travel ban.
