Blast Survivor Wakes up From a 5 Months Coma to Fight for Baby's Custody

Since the 4th of August massive blast that hit Beirut, 26-year-old Liliane Cheaito was in a coma, devastating her family, friends, and hundreds of social media users; who kept sharing photos of the mother's months-old baby. Only on the first day of the new year did this change, as the sleeping mom came back to life again.

While celebrating the fact that Cheaito has overcome her major injuries after the huge explosion that hit Beirut five months ago, social media users were shocked to know that Liliane's in-laws had been keeping her son away from her own family, and even refusing to bring to her as she finally woke up on the 1st of January.
Local journalists investigating the issue found out that Liliane's husband resides in an African country where he works, leaving the months-old baby with his family back home in Lebanon.

According to the religious Shiite courts that handle social issues for followers of the Shiite sect, a child custody goes to his father and the father's family in case of mother's death or a divorce, but only when they are older than 2 years. Yet, in Liliane's situation, the mother was neither dead nor divorced, sparking questions over the child's custody.

As Liliane's story went viral online, with social media users condemning the father and his family for what they described as "deliberately depriving an ailed mother of her only baby," the religious court issued a decision, banning the child's travel without his mother's permission and giving Liliane the right to see her son for at least four hours a day, as she continues to receive treatment of her injuries.

Translation: "The Lebanese Ja'fari court decision of a travel ban on Liliane's son and forcing her in-laws to give the baby to her for four hours a day."

Translation: "The Liliane Cheaito cause is an indication of how important it is for women deprived of their kids to continue the fight for children's custody and of the importance of supporting them against religious courts until a civil law can do them justice"

However, it remains unclear whether this rule will apply after she leaves the hospital, especially after her husband told news outlets that they are not divorced, neither are they meaning to, saying that they had a great relationship prior to the blast.

Over the last several years, many Lebanese women from the Shiite sect have been fighting for better custody rights, as the religious laws grant fathers the right to have children custody as soon as kids finish nursing, around two years old, depriving divorced mothers of the rights to raise and enjoy the company of their kids for the rest of their lives.