![\"Catherine](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/a222\/live\/b56bb950-7f28-11ef-a77f-e94d3eab2be3.jpg.webp\")
Catherine Flanagan<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nA Belfast mother has said that the Foreign Office is failing her son, who is being kept in Lebanon in defiance of a UK court order.<\/p>\n David Nahle was taken by his father during a trip to Beirut in 2022 when he was 10 months old.<\/p>\n Dr Mustapha Ali Nahle has refused to abide by a High Court ruling for his son to be returned to Northern Ireland, saying he has been granted custody in Lebanon.<\/p>\n The Foreign Office has been contacted by the BBC for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n David\u2019s mother, Catherine Flanagan, told BBC Spotlight<\/a> she was increasingly worried about her son, who is almost three, amid an escalation of violence between Israel and Hezbollah.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery time I see that there\u2019s been an airstrike, I\u2019m checking where exactly that is in relation to different places where I know they might have David.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s widespread violence, widespread bombings,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ms Flanagan told the BBC in early September that she had not seen or spoken to her son in more than a year.<\/a><\/p>\n There has been fighting between Israel and Hezbollah across the Lebanese border since the 7 October attack on Israel by Hamas.<\/a><\/p>\n The Iran-backed militia, which is based in Lebanon, said it would continue until there was a ceasefire in Gaza.<\/p>\n In recent weeks, Israel has carried out airstrikes across Lebanon, including in the capital Beirut.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Foreign Office has told all British citizens to leave the country.<\/p>\n David, who travelled to Lebanon on a British passport, is being kept in Beirut by his father.<\/p>\n Dr Nahle is now considered a fugitive from UK authorities.<\/p>\n Ms Flanagan claims her questions to the Foreign Office about David\u2019s case have gone unanswered.<\/p>\n \u201cNobody has gotten back to me or told me what they are doing, that is not acceptable.<\/p>\n \u201cDavid\u2019s rights as a British citizen, as my son, are being trampled all over. I find it extremely, extremely negligent,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n She fears for David who will celebrate his third birthday next week in a warzone.<\/p>\n \u201cThere’s not a second of the day that I’m not thinking about David. When I sleep, I’m dreaming about him.<\/p>\n BBC Spotlight travelled to Beirut to track down David\u2019s father, who is a consultant anaesthetist in Lebanon\u2019s largest hospital.<\/p>\n Speaking days before the most recent escalation in attacks, he told the BBC he had been granted custody by a Lebanese court, and would not be returning David to his mother.<\/p>\n “I am Lebanese, I live in Lebanon, I obey for Lebanese laws, that\u2019s it”.<\/p>\n Dr Nahle added: “I feel David is safe and I have some safety measures.<\/p>\n “The world, in our lives, we don\u2019t have the hundred percent safety, in UK they don\u2019t have it, in Belfast they have riots, they have racial riots too.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n David\u2019s parents married in 2021 but the home office rejected Dr Nahle’s application for a visitor visa to the UK.<\/p>\n After their marriage broke down, Dr Nahle took David from Ms Flanagan, citing concerns for his son\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n In 2023, the High Court in Belfast awarded Catherine custody and ordered Dr Nahle to return David to live in Northern Ireland. <\/p>\n That did not happen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ms Flanagan told the BBC she fears her son is at risk in the country.<\/p>\n \u201cI can’t believe that his father, who does love him, would do such a thing to me, would do such a thing to David.\u201d<\/p>\n Mice\u00e1l O\u2018Hurley is an independent mediator between David\u2019s parents, and thinks the escalation in violence may change Dr Nahle’s thinking.<\/p>\n \u201cI accept that Mustapha and his family love this child. If you’ve seen a video of him, he’s happy, bouncy, chubby-cheeked.<\/p>\n \u201cHe loves his son. But now it’s about putting his needs first,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Mr O\u2019Hurley also believes the government should be doing more to ensure David is evacuated from the country.<\/p>\n \u201cThe government is so concerned we have now a level four evacuation for all British citizens.<\/p>\n \u201cIt ought not to take a ground war, or missiles falling on your head, or dying because a pager explodes in the property next door to get us to marshal our attention to save a child.\u201d<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/bbcx\/grey-placeholder.png\")
![\"](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/008d\/live\/92203530-7f45-11ef-b266-c1a332524046.jpg.webp\")
Catherine Flanagan<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n‘Not a second that I’m not thinking about him’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
![\"Catherine](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/2fdd\/live\/d8e42590-7cb5-11ef-bda7-e1427314c99f.jpg.webp\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nBirthday in a warzone <\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
‘He loves his son’ <\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
![\"Dr](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/65ca\/live\/32cdd610-7cb5-11ef-bda7-e1427314c99f.jpg.webp\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n