Mum lobbies government to get 'abducted' children home

Tanya's children were taken to Libya by their father in 2015

A mother has started a petition calling for the government to help bring back her children from Libya.

Tanya Borg's daughters were taken from Pewsey in Wiltshire by their father Mohammed El Zubaidy in 2015.

She said: "It breaks my heart. Why is nobody doing anything? I'm going to try and get them back until I die.

She has been granted full custody by British and Libyan courts, but the girls are missing with their grandmother.

Their father left the girls with his mother in Libya, after travelling to north Africa.

Ms Borg's lawyer said the girls and their grandmother disappeared after a Libyan judge ordered her to bring them to a court hearing.

Earlier this month, Ms Borg met her local MP Danny Kruger to see if he could intervene.

He said: "I am working with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the police to help Tanya recover her daughters from Libya, and very much hope we can bring them home soon."

A FCO spokesperson said: "We are in contact with the mother of two British children in Libya, her MP and her solicitor.

"This is a complex case and we are providing support.

"Our ability to provide consular support is limited by the volatile security situation and conditions on the ground."

Angel El Zubaidy (left) and Maya were left with their grandmother in Tripoli

Ms Borg hopes to raise £50,000 to pay for a private detective, lawyers and travel to bring them back.

She said her children were being held against their will and so far, the UK government had "not offered much help".

She said the FCO gave her a list of lawyers to avoid and advised her not to travel to Libya.

"How does that help me?

"If they keep giving me the same response that they can't help... then I will try myself, but I need the funds to do that which I don't have" she said.

Judges have jailed El Zubaidy, of Wood Green, London, twice for breaching orders to get them back, by not revealing where they are.