Afas Khalifa News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Of dollars in aid from thited s recognize international law when it comes to returning the united states' stolen >> yay! >> reporter: according to court records, michaelshannon'on were illegally taken here 12 years ago by their mother. and despite winning every court case since, despite rulings that his american citizen sons must be returned to their father, the illegal separation has lasted more than a decade. >> nothing has worked. >> reporter: attorney stephen cullen is an expert in fighting international custody battles. >> if we went over there -- >> reporter: he's taken on shannon's case...

Guardian for watching adam for a weekend. and i remember how difficult that decision was. >> reporter: august 2001. nermeen's father, afas khalifa, flew from her home in cairo to baltimore to visit her daughter. and there was something else. afaf khalifa was asking permission to take her two grandsons and her daughter for a rare weekend trip out of state to new york, to visit a relative. shannon was suspicious but reluctantly agreed. >> i said to my father, i said, well, there's no way she can take them to egypt. i have full custody. i have full rights. i have their passports locked in a safe....

>> reporter: adam shannon was born on february 2nd, 1997. 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 vis...

Hesitation. >> michael shannon believes his ex-wife has turned his sons against him. but against all the odds, she's optimistic to this day. >> it's what they say in egypt, inshalla, it's god's will. they have to come back to the united states. they're united states citizens. >> michael shannon can only hope now for the future. the days his sons each turn 18 and can leave egypt on their own. that is the day he believes they will finally know the truth about their father, that he never stopped fighting for them, that he never stopped loving them, that he never stopped trying to be their dad. >>...