Story By: Michael Leidig, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

A violent husband who kidnapped his own 5 children from his estranged wife and fled back home to Turkey has sent her these shocking images of the kids apparently holding guns.

Zayeynap Khalil was four years old when she moved to Germany, and at the age of 17 was forced to marry a cousin of her mother who was 11 years older than her.

Up until her marriage she had been able to wear short skirts and make up, but she was forced to live in the traditional way and give up her western lifestyle after accepting the arranged marriage.

She said that right from the start, her new husband Ali Khalil, 44, was insanely jealous, and in the 16 years they were together he had been frequently violent and often threatened to kill her, kept her locked up and raped her.

The couple had four children and she said the relationship and abuse was worse every day, and the violence was not concentrated on her. When her sister had tried to defend her back in 2013, her enraged husband climbed into his car and run the then 24-year-old over, causing serious injuries.

He was jailed but when he was released early he collected the boys and his two children from school and kindergarten, and fled with them to Turkey.

From there he sent the distraught mother pictures of the children aged between seven and 16 posing with guns, saying he would kill them if she did not leave him alone.

Speaking to local media the now 33-year-old woman said: “I don’t know what to do, I can’t even go to Turkey, I don’t have any rights there.”

She added: “My husband is sick. I am so worried that I will never see my three boys and my two girls ever again.”

German officials have declined to comment on moves to try and have the children return to the country, and the Turkish embassy also declined to comment.

However the father was not worried about commenting, and when contacted by German newspaper Bild said: “The little ones came with me voluntarily, they didn’t want to stay with their mother. I’m not going to say where I am, but I can tell you one thing, I’m never going to come back to Germany.”

Confronted with his wife’s claims about the forced marriage, the violence and the fact that he locked her in the family home where he beat and raped her he said: “I appeal to my wife just to leave me and my children in peace.”

His wife said: “I am the mother, I love them and I will do everything I can to bring them back to Germany.”

She said her sons and daughters were born in the country, all of their friends were there, they went to school there, and oldest had even started training for a job.

She said: “His one objective is to get me to follow after him so he can put me under more pressure. But I can’t do that, because I only have one life and I don’t want to lose it.”

The ViralTab page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.