(RNS) — A federal judge ruled Friday (July 10) that a 5-year-old girl must be returned to her mother, an Iranian refugee living in Turkey, ending an international custody battle with the girl’s father, Saeed Abedini, an evangelical pastor and once a religious freedom celebrity.
The child’s mother, Niloofar Aragh, filed a complaint in federal court last month alleging the girl’s father had abducted her while she was on holiday with her grandparents in December 2024, and took her to the U.S. without permission.
Abedini, a one-time political prisoner in Iran, told RNS earlier this year he had fled Turkey and taken his daughter with him because he feared for his life and thought the child was in danger.
While Abedini, who lives in Virginia, admitted in court filings he had taken his daughter without permission, he argued the girl was now settled in the U.S. and that returning her to Turkey would be harmful.
“Removing the child from the only home, family, community, and language she meaningfully knows, and delivering her to a country she does not remember and to a caregiver with whom …