Muslim Father ‘Feared to Have Cut Off Ankle Monitor and Taken Daughter to Syria’

Belgian local media reported that the three-year-old went missing from the Brussels borough of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode on 26th May.

Young Yasmine had been staying with her father Mehdi Atid, who reportedly did not bring her back to her mother Hajar.

Hajar fears her daughter was kidnapped and taken to Syria, as she told of Mr Atid often complaining his daughter was growing up in a “land of infidels”.

Mr Atid spent two years in prison after committing several crimes, and was released with an ankle bracelet so the authorities could monitor him.

Belgian local media reported that the man managed to cut off his ankle bracelet and flee Belgium using a friend’s identity card.

After crossing the border to Germany and travelling to Italy, Mr Atid is reported to have reached Greece by ferry after which the trail from his cell phone data stopped.

He is said to be accompanied by a young woman dressed in a niqab, according to local reports.

Mayor Emir Kir of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode said: “It is not normal that no one was worried about the fact that he was able to rip off his ankle bracelet and take time to flee.”

The Brussels public prosecutor’s office confirmed that an investigation has been running into a parental kidnapping.