James M. Jeffords: “I rise today to share some great news and to give thanks to the Members who helped me with respect to this very…”

“I rise today to share some great news and to give thanks to the Members who helped me with respect to this very emotional situation that we have dealt with. I want to share the great news that three young Vermont girls who were abducted to Egypt are now back. I want to thank 56 of my colleagues for their support in this case for signing a letter to urge their return to Vermont. I also want to thank the Egyptian and American Governments for their invaluable assistance. Last October, anticipating a Vermont court order giving his wife sole custody of their three girls, Michael Zaazhoa took Sarah, Maryam and Leila under falsified passports and fled to Egypt. Lamis Zaazhoa began the frantic search for her girls, ages 3, 5 and 6, which took 9 months, and culminated in a joyful reunion at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo this past Friday. Lamis listened to the wise counsel of her family and decided to go the long, anxious route of petitioning the Egyptian courts for sole custody of her children under Egyptian law and getting an Egyptian court order for the return of her girls.”