It was a year ago on Sunday that a Courtenay, B.C. mother, Alison Azar, got the shocking news her four young children had been taken by their father to the Middle East.
The abduction came after a long and bitter custody battle with her ex-husband, Saren Azer, a Kurdish-Canadian doctor.
But Saren said life is normal in Iran with his four children, of whom the eldest – Sharvahn – has just turned 12.
“They are doing great really, emotionally very healthy and have adjusted really well. They are not the children that they were a year ago,” Saren told Global News in an exclusive interview.
READ MORE: ‘There’s just this brokenness’: Alta. woman on young Azer cousins taken to Iran
He said the children are happy to be away from what he has called the “nightmare” of a three-year custody fight in Canada.
Saren said he invited the children’s mother to spend time with them in northern Iran.
“If she ever wants to be part of the children’s life, I absolutely have no objection. She’s more than welcome to come,” he said.
But in a statement, Azar told Global News that she will continue with her campaign to bring the children back.
“As the mother of four beautiful children, I will never give up fighting for them…I will continue to work to ensure my children’s safe return to Canada,” read part of the statement.
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In the past, she has been critical on how the Canadian government has handled the situation.
“I can’t fathom starting yet another school year with my four children in danger, when I know the Canadian government could have done more, and chose not to do so,” Azar said in a past press conference.
But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insists that the government is doing everything it can.
“We have put diplomatic pressure directly and through intercedents; we have worked very closely, the RCMP with Interpol,” Trudeau said during a press conference from his cabinet’s retreat in Subdury on Monday.
“This is an unimaginable situation for any parent to be put through…and we are working very, very hard to ensure that the Azer children are returned to their mother,” Trudeau added.
Currently, there is a warrant out for Saren’s arrest on abduction charges, but during his interview with Global News, the father insisted authorities were over-reacting to his case.
“I am not missing, my children are not missing – Interpol knows where we live,” Saren said.
Earlier this summer, an Iranian judge ruled Saren had not committed a crime under the country’s laws.
“No regrets. I would do it again if I had to, for the well-being of my children and for a better future for them,” Saren added.
-With files from Claude Adams
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