Photos of Ibrahim family that might stop Sam being deported

A bombshell dossier released by the Australian National Archives could play a key role in underworld figure Sam Ibrahim’s legal fight against his deportation. They also contain several Ibrahim family secrets.

These are the never before seen family photos of the Ibrahim clan that underworld figure Sam Ibrahim hopes will prevent him from being deported.

The pictures form part of a bombshell dossier of immigration documents released by the National Archives that are set to be used by Ibrahim’s lawyers to demand he not be deported to Lebanon on the grounds they prove he is an Australian citizen.

They were taken in 1976 and feature the angelic faces of Sam and his siblings, long before they became one of Sydney’s most intriguing families.

Meet the Ibrahim family: Pictures from 1976 immigration documents showing Sam (11), John (8), Maha (6), Fadi (3) and Fida (1).

On the left is 11-year-old Sam, who later became a feared senior member of the Nomads bikie gang.

Next to Sam is a cheeky looking eight-year-old named John Ibrahim — before he was known as the King of the Cross thanks to his dominance of the Kings Cross nightclub scene.

The third picture features John’s six-year-old sister Maha, who changed her name to Jazz Dior after being known as Maha Sayour.

The cherubic overall-wearing three-year-old is Fadi, pictured here more than three decades before he survived being shot in an unsolved assassination attempt.

The final picture captures their one-year-old sister “Fida”, who changed her name to Armani Stelio.

Sam Ibrahim in 1976.

Sam Ibrahim in more recent times.

The photos are part of a dossier of documents released last month by the National Archives that reveal Sam’s mother, Wahiba, attempted to have Sam and his siblings made Australian citizens after they migrated from Lebanon in 1976.

Ibrahim is currently housed in a detention centre and is in line to be deported to Lebanon — his country of birth — after the Australian government cancelled his visa on character grounds in 2015.

The move came after the government said Ibrahim never became an Australian citizen.

The dossiers are now expected to play a significant role in Ibrahim’s legal case against the deportation with the underworld figure expected to argue that they prove he was made an Australian citizen.

John Ibrahim in 1976.

John Ibrahim in 2020. Picture: John Grainger

One of the documents shows a citizenship certificate number that is understood to hold some legal weight in proving that Sam was included on his mother’s successful citizenship application.

A document from 1982 showed Wahiba signed her “Affirmation of Allegiance” to the Queen after being made an Australian citizen.

Other documents showed that Wahiba included her children on a 1980 application for citizenship.

But the progress of the children’s applications were delayed because of the status and whereabouts of their father.

Fadi Ibrahim pictured in immigration documents in 1976.

Sharp: Fadi Ibrahim in March 2021. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gaye Gerard

In December 1980, Wahiba attended the Department of Immigration and “applied for citizenship for her five children” but was told she would need to “produce evidence of divorce and custody of the children” before it could proceed, one of the documents said.

The document said “Ms Ibrahim returned to the office (on December 12, 1980) and supplied a letter stating that she had been deserted by her husband.”

The application was paused and Wahiba was told to seek legal advice.

Wahiba Ibrahim in a picture filed with her 1976 citizenship documents.

A document filed by Wahiba Ibrahim where her husband’s whereabouts are mentioned.

In 1976, a document of residence signed by Wahiba’s sponsor said her husband “is unknown living, lost or maybe kidnapped…”.

Wahiba filled out a government form in April 1977 that listed her marital status as “widow”.

In a Personal Statement form signed on December 3, 1980, Wahiba said she had been divorced since 1978.

The form listed “Mahimid Ibrahim” as the man Wahiba had been married to since “1964”.

On December 8, 1980, Wahiba sent a letter to the Department of Immigration explaining her marital status.

“Mahimid Ibrahim left his wife and children to (return) to (Lebanon) in August 1978 and his whereabouts are unknown,” Wahiba wrote.

“During the two and a half years of separation and dissertation his wife Wahiba has received no letters of contact or financial assistance from him.

“He is believed to be still alive,” she wrote.

Wahiba Ibrahim’s letter to the Immigration Department on December 8 1980 where she explains the whereabouts of her husband are unknown but “believed to be still alive”.

On June 19, 1981, a department staffer noted on the file that the “divorce proceeding … may take some time” and wrote: “delete children from application.”

However, it is not known if this happened or was rectified if it did.

Despite being listed as eight-years-old in the documents, John wrote in his 2017 autobiography that he was five when he came to Australia.

In response to questions, a spokesman for the Department of Home Affairs, said it “does not comment on individual cases”.