Father who kidnapped daughter to be deported after prison time
Attempted to flee to Jordan: ‘Such an act of attempting to rob his daughter of her mother ... is reprehensible’
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May 14, 2009

BY NATASHA KORECKI Federal Courts Reporter nkorecki@suntimes.com
He said he it did for love. She said he did it for vengeance.

Said Ayesh and Muna Banieh's bitter, conflicting tales of love, betrayal and international intrigue unfolded in a federal courtroom Wednesday when Ayesh was sentenced to nearly three years in prison for kidnapping his daughter and attempting to flee to his native Jordan.

» Click to enlarge image

Nadin Ayesh makes a face as she plays with her mother, Muna Banieh, and grandfather Bassam Banieh on the day she came home to Orland Park after her father, Said Ayesh (inset) kidnapped her in October.
(Brett Roseman/Sun-Times News Gr


Because Ayesh is not a U.S. citizen, he'll be deported after he serves his sentence, which will effectively bar him from ever seeing his daughter again.

"Such an act of attempting to rob his daughter of her mother . . . is reprehensible," U.S. District Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan said in sentencing Ayesh to 35 months -- five months longer than prosecutors sought.

In a dramatic, two-hour hearing, the abducted girl's mother described how she hired private detectives, installed locks on the windows in her Orland Park home and begged judges -- unsuccessfully -- to ban unsupervised visitation, fearing Ayesh would kidnap their daughter.

Last October, she put 2-year-old Nadin in her car seat for a court-ordered visit with Ayesh. She said Nadin cried and pleaded with her: "Please mama, take me with you! I do not want to go with him."

That day, Ayesh slipped past Banieh's private detectives in the parking lot of the Orland Park police department and took off with Nadin, leading to an intensive manhunt stretching from Canada to Jordan.

For Banieh, it was a race against time because she feared Ayesh would make it to Jordan and keep Nadin there for good.

The child was found safe four days later in Ohio. But in the intervening time, Ayesh yelled at Nadin to stop crying for her mother and plied her with medicine to get the distraught girl to sleep, Banieh said.

"He told her: 'You're never going to see your mother again,' " Banieh said.

When law enforcement returned Nadin, Banieh said: "She was staring at me like: 'Why did you let me go with him?' "

Ayesh, 35, admitted to the crime, but said he was betrayed. He said he married Banieh in Bridgeview before the two moved to Jordan. In 2006, she was pregnant and he let her travel alone to give birth in the United States, giving the child citizenship. Ayesh said she promised to return. But she later refused.

Using old visa papers, he slipped into the United States through Puerto Rico. He soon won some visitation rights. He returned to Bridgeview, where he had memories of marrying Banieh in a mosque. He said he learned the marriage was a sham. He charged that Banieh was already married.

"Everyone in the mosque knew she married another man," Ayesh said in court. "I just felt like a shame in me."

He hired two others to help in the kidnapping. He doctored travel documents for Nadin, stole back his passport, which a judge had ordered him to give to his lawyer, and tried to take his daughter out of the country.

Banieh said if he succeeded she would have never seen her daughter again.

"Imagine, judge, if the most precious thing was taken from you and you live in the worst fear you would never see her again," she said.

Banieh said she was not married to Ayesh. They lived together while she was separated from her husband.

She charged that Ayesh stole Nadin out of spite, saying he has a daughter with another woman whom he never sees.

Banieh said Ayesh was physically and mentally abusive, harassed her over the phone and threatened to kill her and Nadin.

But Ayesh said Nadin loved being with him and gobbled down Big Macs and Kentucky Fried Chicken on their visits.

"I take her to Chuck E. Cheese. She doesn't want to go back to her mom. I want to spend money for her," Ayesh said. "I just love my daughter so much. She loves me."

After deportation, Ayesh can only re-enter the country with consent of the U.S. Attorney General.

"The chances of that happening are slim to none," said Frank Valenti, Ayesh's lawyer.
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