Four B.C. children allegedly abducted by father and taken to Middle East

Four young children from the Comox Valley have been allegedly abducted by their biological father and taken to the Middle East, prompting a Canada-wide Arrest Warrant and an online plea from their mother.

Alison Azer reported her four children, aged three to 11, missing on August 14 after their father Dr. Salahaddin (Saren) Mahmudi-Azer took them across international borders into an unknown location in the Middle East.

Azer and her children, Sharvahn Delahn Mahmudi-Azer (11), Rojevahn Beritan Mahmudi-Azer (9), Dersim Baran Mahmudi-Azer (7) and Meitan Serbast Mahmudi-Azer (3) were born in Alberta. They were raised by both their mother and father until Azer fled her husband and moved to Courtenay three years ago. She says Mahmudi-Azer did not agree with raising their children as “normal Canadians”.

“Saren wanted full control and custody over our children.  He couldn’t tolerate that I let the children take swimming lessons, attend birthday parties and enjoy a normal Canadian childhood,” Azer says on an online FundRazr page hoping to collect money to help return her kids to Canada.

“I never anticipated that the well educated, charismatic man whom I married would turn into such a restrictive, abusive and controlling husband and father. I feared for our lives.”

Azer and the Comox Valley RCMP are now working on bringing the children safely back home.

“This work has included extensive communication with international law enforcement partners and INTERPOL, obtaining and executing a search warrant in the Comox Valley, as well as taking steps to restrict further international travel by the father and children.  The investigators continue to look at all possibilities,” said Corporal Darren Lagan of the Comox Valley RCMP.

He says the children were legally allowed to leave Canada with their father.

“We understand how difficult this situation is for the children’s mother and others in the community.  The safety and security of Canadian children, both at home and abroad, is of the utmost importance to the RCMP, and we will continue our efforts to locate and safely return these children to British Columbia,” Hagan continued.

RCMP first obtained and executed a search warrant in the Comox Valley, then obtained an order from the Supreme Court of B.C. that the children be returned to their mother. On August 24, RCMP received a Canada-wide arrest warrant for Azer under the charges of Abduction in Contravention of a Custody Order.

If you have any information on the location of Salahaddin Mahmudi-Azer or his four children please contact your local police force, or the Comox Valley RCMP at 250-338-1321.