Former “Singapore Idol” winner Taufik Batisah took to social media yesterday to detail a personal family ordeal in hopes of raising funds that could potentially get his cousin and two-year-old niece back to Singapore, since, according to the singer, they are both currently stuck in Lebanon with travel bans imposed on them.
Here’s the backstory, as told by Taufik in his original Facebook video.
In September 2017, his cousin Nur, a Singaporean citizen, took her older son and baby daughter Hana to Lebanon to visit their paternal grandparents. The father of the children is not identified beyond details that he is a Lebanese man, and is now most likely residing in Australia.
Within three weeks of the family’s arrival in Lebanon, however, they found themselves stuck in the middle of an intense family struggle — Nur’s passport reportedly went missing, and the husband’s side of the family allegedly turned to Lebanese authorities to have a “travel ban” imposed on Hana, resulting in the 8-month-old infant being forcibly taken away from her mother.
According to Taufik, his cousin Nur went through nine heartbreaking months of separation with her infant daughter before seeing her again — after a Lebanese judge, through the “highest Sharia court,” lifted the ban on June 10, 2018 and reinstated full custody of Hana back to Nur.
Shortly after being reunited with her daughter, another allegation was filed against the mother-of-two by her husband’s family — this time, for kidnapping Hana. Officials responded by placing another travel ban on Hana and Nur, who were both forbidden from leaving the country.
Taufik says that his side of the family has spent more than US$35,000 — approximately SG$47,900 — to get Nur and her daughter back in Singapore, but to no avail.
In the GoGetFunding page shared by the singer, the description of the campaign says that his cousin and niece are still living in fear in the outskirts of Lebanon, and in rough circumstances: Hana has missed all the necessary health checkups and vaccinations required for a child her age, and, she has been infected with Notovirus due to poor sanitary conditions where she is living.
The campaign aims to raise at least S$50,000 to get Nur and Hana home in time for the Hari Raya holiday. As of today, June 4, they are still $28,132 short of that goal.
Many netizens expressed their sympathy and offered prayers. Some also urged the singer to get in touch with the relevant authorities.
