reporter: it is an international nightmare that began with a most american of love stories. in 1995 michael shannon was a computer specialist in chicago when his best friend invited him to a company softball game. the company was the engineering giant bechtel, and on that softball field he met a bechtel employee, nermeen khalifa, and fell in love. she was in your eyes american. americanized. yeah. i didn t find out until three months after we were dating that her father was born in cairo. reporter: her egyptian father was an extremely wealthy and powerful businessman who made sure his daughters, including nermeen, were born u.s. citizens. it wasn t long before michael shannon and nermeen khalifa were married. and michael found out just how wealthy the khalifa family was. for a while was it a good marriage? fun?
been growing up here. 12 long years. 12 years not even seeing a single photograph. but that is about to change. it s 7:05 a.m. sunday morning. the beginning of the school week in cairo. and two boys, appearing to be about 16 and 12, are walking out of the apartment building where nermeen khalifa lives with michael shannon s two sons. khalifa has refused to give cnn a picture of her boys. she has refused to allow the u.s. state department to take a photo of adam and jason. and for a dozen years has denied their father a single image. these undercover pictures, blurred to protect their identities, will be the first michael shannon has seen of his children since august 22nd, 2001. listen, i want you to do something. i know he s got a computer in front of you. mm-hmm. i want you to just open up that computer, and i want you to hit play.
this is all his side of the story. these are all his lies. and i don t know how it s on record, on court records at all. because i was just i never had any rulings against me for any of these things that you mentioned. i have the court records with me. i could show you them. i m stunned that you haven t seen them. you were part of them. i have not seen any court records at all. reporter: there is no record at all that nermeen herself was abused. again, she says, that is a conspiracy. i had a broken tooth. and a swollen nose. the reason i ask is because i have got huge files on this case through the years and i haven t seen any of that. i m telling you, even the police were biased against me. and that s why you fled to egypt? why do you have to word it that way? i didn t flee. i was protecting myself and my children.
the first male grandchild of the khalifas. nermeen s mother came over for the birth pf pictures show a beaming mother, father, and grandmother. there was even time for a family visit to cairo. michael shannon says his father-in-law was so overjoyed to have a grandson. he offered michael a job and a house. with just one condition. they had to live in egypt. i said, well, the problem is your daughter, my wife, hates this country. she hates egypt. women are second-class citizens here. she can t smoke. she can t drink. more people visit spring training games than they go to reporter: there was another reason not to move to egypt. michael shannon s son from another marriage. mike was 11 years old when adam was born. now 27, he recalls the little brother from whom he became
don t know. it could be him. it could be. yes, it could be him. reporter: he looks like a man. yeah. i spent the last 11 years with image of a 5-year-old. in my mind. reporter: and what about jason? there s no way to tell. the picture i have of jason, he s 10 months old. it could very easily reporter: do you see any of your family in him? certainly i do. he looks like my daughter. reporter: how does it feel to be looking at these photographs of these people and after you said 11, 12 years you can t even determine if these are indeed your sons? it s why i ve been trying to get a photo for ten years, from the government. the u.s. embassy, office of