When we get home to Rasoul, he is not at home, what remains are the daughter's toys, clothes and the Christmas present that the family was never allowed to give her.

He can't bear to stay in Sweden because here he is reminded of the hours when his daughter was on her way home from her mother but never showed up.

Instead, his sister and parents receive us in the apartment - and we call him where he is today, in Iraq.

- The only reason why I have stopped looking is because my money has run out, says Rasoul.

The fight to get the daughter back could have been easier, Rasoul believes - if only the authorities had acted faster and more effectively.

- I have been so close to getting her back several times and each time the authorities were too slow.

Met the daughter in Morocco - "wasn't enough as evidence"

Since the daughter was taken away by her mother, Rasoul has been in Morocco for months at a time.

And for every clue as to where the daughter was, the Foreign Ministry and the prosecutor in Sweden said that the evidence was still not enough for an extradition request, says Rasoul.

- We found her school, talked to teachers and neighbors, he says.

SVT has gone through documents in Rasoul's daughter's case, both in Sweden and in Morocco, to understand why.

It was only in April 2022 – only six years after the abduction – that the prosecutor requested that the mother be detained and extradited to Sweden.

Previously, it was not possible to "determine with sufficient certainty that she is there", writes the prosecutor in an email to Rasoul's lawyer, which SVT has seen.

- We even had two trials in Marrakech where I got to see my daughter, but even that "wasn't enough as evidence", says Rasoul, who is upset about the bureaucracy, because both countries have signed the Hague Convention, which is supposed to facilitate the return of a child .

Already in the summer of 2019, a court in Morocco ruled - just as the district court and the court of appeals in Sweden did before the abduction - that Rasoul would have sole custody of the child and that the mother would hand the child over to him.

The child should have been protected during the custody dispute

Rasoul's criticism of the authorities began even before her daughter disappeared.

In both the police's and the social service's investigations into the Swedish custody dispute, it appears that Rasoul warned that the mother had talked about taking the daughter away to Morocco.

The mother also refused both visitation and custody orders for over 20 months before the abduction.

- For a few weeks, between October 2016 and Christmas 2016, I thought everything would finally work out, but suddenly the mother made new accusations against me, says Rasoul. 

Instead of handing over the daughter as agreed, the mother made new accusations that Rasoul had sexually assaulted the daughter.

However, both the police and social services judged the accusations to be false and intended to regain custody.

While the abuse was being investigated, the daughter was taken to Morocco.

Today, Rasoul wishes her daughter had been protected while they investigated the allegations.

SVT has sought the prosecutor in the case but has not received an interview.

The mother is currently in custody in her absence on suspicion of gross arbitrariness with children.

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