Mahassan Issa and her new partner Mohammed
Mahassan Issa, 29, was on the run in Lebanon with Mohammed Awick for two and a half months after her estranged husband in Australia, Bassem Abou Lokmeh, told authorities they were married and she was there to wed another man.
She also revealed her husband's demands in exchange for dropping the charges included cash, their home and other assets.
She had met Mohammed, who lives in Lebanon, through his sister after being separated from her husband of nine years.
She claims the official separation began in September last year, which he denies.
Mahassan's husband and family refused to allow a divorce and eventually she fled to see Mohammed.
"He was a supporter of me. He was very kind and compassionate."
The couple spoke regularly on the phone and on Facebook and when her family disowned her for filing for divorce in May, she left to visit him in Lebanon.
It was then, she says, that her estranged husband took advantage of Sharia law to register their marriage in Lebanon and insist she was committing a crime punishable by prison.
“My crime here under Sharia Law is adultery. It is jail and I could be put away for two years, three years, no one knows. There are cases like mine, two or three cases, a week,” Mahassen told Sunday Night from her safe house in Beirut.
“This is why we have kept running.”A primary school teacher, Mahassan was born in Sydney’s Canterbury hospital to Lebanese immigrants who insisted on raising their kids in true Australian style while holding firm Islamic values.
“We went around everywhere, we saw the big pineapple and the big banana…you know, being a happy little Vegemite kid, mum cooking spaghetti on those little gas ovens," she said.
She met Bassem when he was in Australia on a student visa, they married when she was 20, moved to Bankstown and had two children.
But as the relationship deteriorated it was made clear to Mahassan by her family that divorce was not an option, despite her claims that he was controlling and even violent.
“It got to the point where I couldn’t bear to see him anymore. [I told him] It’s over, It’s either I leave or you leave. It’s that simple.”
It was while her children were on a scheduled two-week stay at their father’s that, Mahassen says, she packed up and flew to Lebanon to meet the only person who supported her.
“I told my children I’m going for a holiday, I dropped them off and I kissed them [but] I couldn’t tell them where I was going,” she said.
“I booked a ticket and left midday, on June 20.”
Mohammed picked her up from the airport and six days later, the couple staged a commitment ceremony so they could be seen together as a couple in the conservative religious north of Lebanon.
Days later they were on the run.She told Sunday Night reporter Steve Pennells she feared Mohammed would leave her while authorities were pursuing them.
“I was scared that he would. I was honestly scared that he would, because anyone would run. I would."
“If I was in a predicament like that and I was going to go to jail, I’d run. But he didn’t. And I never left him and he didn’t leave me.”
After news broke of the adultery charge in Lebanon, her family publicly shamed her.
"It was very bad, the emails, the text messages, the threats, the abuse," Mahassen said.
“It was a ceremony, there was no wedding.”
“Religiously under Sharia Law [Bassem] had divorced me, Under Islamic laws in Sydney he had divorced me so technically speaking I was divorced, but my family deny this.”
A stop order was filed which prevented Mahassan from leaving the country. Her children were still visiting their father Bassem, and were unaware of their mother's situation.
"It had Bassem's name on it, that he was the one that had put the stop order on," Mahassan said.
There was a warrant out for her arrest and bounty hunters following her movements.
She was forced to flee to Mohammed's family's apartment in Tripoli, close to the Syrian border.
It was there they were shot at.
"Within a couple of seconds of me exiting the balcony, the bullet went through the glass."
"It's the first time I've ever been shot at."
Mahassan says she travelled on her Australian passport but the Australian government "washed their hands" of her despite a statement saying they were offering assistance.
"They said 'we can't do anything'. They said 'if you do go to jail, we'll see you and provide you with consular assistance while in jail'."
Mahassan's Lawyer, Australian Zali Burrows travelled to Lebanon to help secure her return, but also said she was stonewalled by the Australian embassy.
"They did not respond to my emails, they did not respond to anything. Someone had to go over there to help coordinate her return."
Eventually, Bassam agreed to drop the stop order in exchange for a fee.
While Mahassan was in Lebanon her husband changed the locks on her home, removed her belongings and rented it out.
She was stopped from seeing her children for a further two weeks.
Source:au.news.yahoo.com
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