Parents of premature baby to stay in custody, rules Dutch court

A couple who whisked their premature baby from a Paris hospital will remain in detention, a Dutch judge ruled on Monday, ahead of a decision on their extradition to France.

Born eight weeks premature, the child named only Santiago, and his parents were found by Amsterdam police in the Netherlands on Friday, after a massive international search operation.

"The two persons suspected of abducting a French baby appeared before a judge today who decided that they must remain in custody," the Amsterdam District Court said.

French authorities issued a kidnapping alert and European arrest warrants for the couple after they took Santiago, who needed constant medical care, from a hospital in a Paris suburb.

"Their extradition is being sought by France," the Dutch public prosecution service added.

Both parents have chosen a "shortened legal process" which will be heard within the next 10 days, prosecution services spokesman Evert Boerstra said.

He added Dutch prosecutors focused on the couple's extradition and "not the case itself for which France wanted them to be extradited".

Aged 23 and 25, Santiago's parents whisked their child away from the neo-natal unit in the Robert Ballanger hospital in Aulnay-sous-Bois, northeast of Paris.

The baby had been born 17 days before.

Belgian authorities have also been involved in the search as Santiago's parents are thought to have fled from France to Belgium before reaching the Netherlands.