Desperate family search for mother and four-year-old who are missing in Cairo

Jawaria Tbesom,  is missing in Egypt with her daughter, Aamina Asum, aged 4
Jawaria Tbesom, is missing in Egypt with her daughter, Aamina Asum, aged 4

Fears are growing for a British woman and her four-year-old daughter who have gone missing in Egypt for more than two weeks.

Desperate family members have now flown to the Egyptian capital to find the mother and child.

West Midlands Police are aiding the search but relatives fear that the pair are sleeping rough.

Ms Tbesom is estranged from her husband Asum Rehman and had custody of their daughter and living apart as they went through divorce proceedings.

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Mr Rehman, 32, said that nobody knew she'd been planning the trip and it was only once she was there that she messaged her mother to say she was in Egypt because she wanted to 'sort a few things out'.

"By looking at her emails we knew when she was due to fly back, which was a few days later, and when she didn't come back we reported her missing to West Midlands Police,' Mr Rehman, a pharmacist, told Birmingham Live.

Aamina Asum, aged 4 has been seen with her mother in Cairo. The family fear they are sleeping rough. (West Midlands Police)
Aamina Asum, aged 4 has been seen with her mother in Cairo. The family fear they are sleeping rough. (West Midlands Police)

"We rang the hotel where she was meant to be staying and they said she hadn't checked in."

The Foreign and Commonwealth offices are both helping the family.

"West Midlands Police told me that, because we know where she is, she isn't missing," mr Rehman said.

"But my wife is vulnerable and has a four-year-old girl with her, they're both British nationals and no-one knows where they are - Cairo is a city with a population of nine million people.

"We had to go to the High Court to get an order forcing police refer the case to Interpol."

Ms Tbesom's father Yasin Tbesom, who is in Cairo, said: "As soon as we landed, we contacted the British Embassy who said it wasn't their job to search for missing people, that was the job of the local police.

"So we went to the Cairo police who, quite frankly, have been useless.

"There's the language barrier and also they don't seem to know what they're doing - they're the ones ringing us up asking if we've got any leads or information."

"We've taken it upon ourselves to enlist the help of local people, put up posters and put out videos in the hope someone may have seen them."

The mother and child flew to Egypt without their family's knowledge and were said to have been last seen wandering the streets of Cairo. (West Midlands Police)
The mother and child flew to Egypt without their family's knowledge and were said to have been last seen wandering the streets of Cairo. (West Midlands Police)

The family have established that the pair are in Cairo because of accounts from locals who had seen them.

The mother and daughter were still in Cairo after speaking with local taxi drivers, street vendors and hoteliers.

He said: "We had a sighting of her from a hotel's CCTV that showed Jawaria and Aamina wearing filthy clothes. Aamina wasn't wearing any shoes, and they looked extremely dirty and in a terrible state.

"They keep moving from one part of Cairo to another, begging for scraps of food because they don't have money.

"It's boiling hot here - 35C every day - and some of the places they've been spotted are extremely dangerous. We are getting closer every day and yesterday missed her by just 24 hours, so we know she's definitely in Cairo.

"Everyone's worried sick because they only have the clothes they're standing in, no money and we're very concerned for their health."

West Midlands Police have referred the matter to Interpol and the British Embassy in Cairo.

'We've also advised them to contact the Lucie Blackman Trust, which specialises in missing people abroad.'

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