Egypt custody dad: Sons ‘avoided me’ at reunion

Video: Dad shares heartbreaking reunion with sons

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   >>> there's new developments in a child custody case, a massachusetts man is fighting to bring his sons home after they were allegedly kidnapped and taken to egypt by his ex-wife. in a moment we'll talk to that dad. but first jeff rossen has all the latest details.

   >> collin bauer is just back from ejicht, he was finally able to see his two little boys for the first time in over a year. they were abducted by their own mother and smuggled overseas according to officials with fake passports, egypt won't give them back, so u.s. officials got involved at the highest levels and set up this emotional visit.

   >> obviously i'm very anxious because i don't know what to expect.

   >> reporter: it's reunion stay for collin bauer and he's invited us along in cairo. collin is about to see his two boys, 7-year-old ramsey and 9-year-old nur. it's been 13 months since he last saw them and hugged them and kissed them.

   >> the thought of actually seeing my children, it's almost an incredible thing to me at this point because i've been promised it and i have looked forward to it for so long, it seems almost unreal .

   >> reporter: this american dad has -- desperate to reach them, he makes facebook videos.

   >> dadly loves you and daddy will always love you.

   >> collin and his wife got divorced? boston in 2008 , collin won sole custody , but last summer, he says, his ex-wife took the kids, forged their passports and snuck them into their native egypt . an international arrest warrant has been issued, her face plastered on the interpol website. but egypt hasn't cooperated allowing her to live in hiding with the boys. earlier this month, collin pled for help here on "today."

   >> i have no idea where they are, nobody has told me where they are and i have been told that the egyptian government knowing where they are.

   >> reporter: but the egyptian government hasn't told you?

   >> no.

   >> hillary clinton got personally involved is, and spoke to mubarak at a meeting in cairo. finally collin could see his boys. our cameras weren't allowed in, but hours later when collin walked out, he was in tears.

   >> the boys came in and they sat next to their two uncles and hung their head and stayed pretty much away from me. it was very, very sad. very, very sad.

   >> collin believes the kids have been brainwashed to hate him and life in america. it hurt, badly.

   >> i tried to explain to them, both their parents love them. a it was a start. it was a first meeting. and they're my two beautiful boys. so that's what happened.

   >> reporter: so much pain, yet collin never gives up so the question becomes where does he go from here? collin just sent this letter to egyptian officials calling for the immediate release of his sons calling it a humanitarian matter.

   >> all right, jeff rosin, thanks very much. collin bauer is with us exclusively this morning along with his attorney. let me go back to this meeting, collin , it's heart breaking to watch your reaction to it. when the boys first walkeded into the room and saw you, was there any glimpse of that kind of warm feeling that you had been hoping for 13 months?

   >> they completely circumvented me, i was down on one knee, i was looking for an embrace, i was looking for any sort of connection that i could make with them after 13 months and they completely avoided me.

   >> you can only assume they have been talked to for an awfully long time and i don't know what's been going on in egypt with their mother and them, but you can only assume they wouldn't react this way unless they have been told certain things for a long period of time, is it akin to brainwashing in your opinion?

   >> it's clearly child abuse is what it is, they have been kidnapped, they were clearly told what to say. they were told they were going to be watched and they were going to be held accountable for what they did in the meeting after the meeting.

   >> you talked to them about friends back home, you talked to them about everything they're doing in their daily lives and at any point did the veneer crack at all?

   >> no, it didn't.

   >> you said it's the first meeting, how are you going to emotionally go through more meetings like that if things don't change?

   >> i won't go through another meeting like that, it is emotional abuse against my children, my boys to sit in a meeting like that, where there's an entourage on one side and they're willing threatened.

   >> if you say to people i'm not going to go through meetings like that, they're going to go to the boys and say we're nyour dad doesn't want anymore meetings.

   >> i have the right to see these boys without supervision.

   >> have you egyptians led you to believe that you're closer to that day that you can have a meeting with your boys and not have the egyptian uncles there?

   >> i know you're trying a different tact here, you're trying to charge his ex-wife with passport fraud . so bring her back here to the united states , what's likelihood that that could be successful?

   >> if government officials do their job, the kids could be back here within weeks. passport fraud is a crime and extortion is a crime. when she asks for money for collin to see his kids.

   >> you actually saw her in that room?

   >> yes, i did.

   >> what was that like?

   >> it was a very serious mood in the room. they made several demands.

   >> demands such as?

   >> demands for money, they made demands for no more media, they wanted to basically tie visitation to media and media was the only way i was able to see my children after 13 months and they gave me visitation that i have already been granted by the egyptian courts so they offered me something for nothing.

   >> if the egyptian courts side with you and you are in fact given custody of your sons back, have you thought about the possibility that they come back to you with that same emotion that you saw in that meeting room ?

   >> i think that would be something that would be -- that could be dealt with quite quickly. i have spoken with a number of child therapists, those boys are coping, they're doing their best to survive within the environment that they're currently inhabiting and i think they need to continue to cope.

   >> we'll follow this story right through to its conclusion and we appreciate you coming in and sharing your experiences.

   >>> it is now 7:43, we're

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