Unable to express his grief, ten-year-old Muhammad Rafael has started physically injuring himself.

Non-verbal and on the autism spectrum, Rafael expresses his sadness and confusion over his father Ihsan Aslan's sudden disappearance from his life this way, his mother Ainnurul Aisyah Yunos said.

Aslan, a Turkish national, was arrested on May 2 for alleged links to terrorism alongside two of his countrymen.

"They (the children) are different, they miss their father. Especially the oldest who cannot speak.

"When he is sad he shows it by acting aggressively. He hits his face, he bites his fingers and his body.

"At night, he will sit by the window and fall asleep on the sofa because he cannot express himself any other way, but I know how he feels," Ainnurul said, kissing and hugging her eldest child.

Tearfully, Ainnurul, 35, said she had to make up stories to tell the children about their father's fate...