The struggle by a US-based Cape Town father for custody of his daughter is in the hands of Western Cape High Court Judge Siraj Desai after a Ohio court ruled against him, finding an earlier order he had obtained for temporary sole parental rights and responsibilities had been improperly granted. The man has a claim pending in the Western Cape High Court in terms of The Hague Convention for the return of the child to the US, notes a Weekend Argus report. His wife has countered that they were married by Muslim rites only and therefore their marriage was not recognised as valid, which, according to her lawyers, means she has sole custody of the child, unless a court orders otherwise. The Hague Convention application could not proceed until the Ohio court made a decision. The father’s lawyers ar gue for the purposes of The Hague Convention, he has rights of custody because he was named as the father on the child’s passport, which was applied for jointly with the mother and had to give his written consent for the child to travel to Cape Town.

Full Weekend Argus report

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