No One Takes My Children is a breathtaking account of Donya Al-Nahi's heroic quest to track down her children, after her Iraqi husband snatched their four children and fled to the Middle East. It is a dramatic, emotional and ultimately inspiring story of how one woman's determination and spirit in times of adversity achieved incredible results. Born in Dundee and raised in Hertfordshire, Donya came into contact with Islam in her twenties and studied it after becoming intrigued by its strong family values. She eventually converted, taking the Arabic name by which she goes today. A chance meeting with a fellow convert in a street one day drew her attention to the plight of women whose Muslim husbands, disenchanted with the liberal values of the West, abduct the children and take them back to their motherland, usually in the Middle East. Enraged at this appalling severing of the mother-child relationship, Donya vowed to help the woman and began a career as a professional child rescuer. Then the unthinkable happened. In March 2002, her Iraqi husband took their daughter, Amira, 5, and their youngest son, Alla, 4, and fled to the Middle East.
Donya immediately begged and borrowed whatever funds she could and flew there to begin the hunt. Reported sightings in Beirut and Damascus came to nothing and she was forced to return home without her two missing children. A further trip with a private detective proved fruitless and Donya's hopes of ever retrieving her children began to fade. Meanwhile, the war in Iraq lead to the fall of Saddam and the so-called liberation of Iraq. The same day, she received news that her husband had entered Iraq with the children. She knew she had no choice but to follow - and nothing would stand in her way this time.