DUBAI’S RULER SHEIKH Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum ordered the abduction of two of his daughters and orchestrated a campaign of intimidation against his former wife, a British judge ruled today.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s sixth wife Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein (45) fled the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last April having become “terrified” of her husband at the beginning of last year.
The 70-year-old vice president and prime minister of the UAE, who is said to be on “respectful and friendly terms” with the British royal family, soon after applied for the summary return to Dubai of their two children, their daughter Al Jalila (12) and son Zayed (8).
But Princess Haya, the half-sister of King Abdullah II of Jordan, applied for the children to be made wards of court, as well as applying for a forced marriage protection order in relation to Jalila and a non-molestation order for her own protection.
She asked the High Court to make a series of findings of fact about Sheikh Mohammed, in particular in relation to the kidnap and forcible detention of two of his adult daughters from another marriage almost two decades apart.
Princess Haya also alleged that there had been a “campaign of fear and intimidation” against her since the start of last year.
In a judgment published today, Sir Andrew McFarlane, the most senior family judge in England and Wales, found Sheikh Mohammed had “ordered and orchestrated” the abduction and forced return to Dubai of Sheikha Shamsa, then 19, in August 2000 and of her sister Sheikha Latifa twice, in 2002 and again in 2018.
The judge found that Shamsa, now 38, was abducted from the streets of Cambridge and “has been deprived of her liberty for much if not all of the past two decades”.
Sir Andrew also found Latifa (35) was held “on the instructions of her father” for more than three years after her first escape attempt in 2002 before being released in October 2005.
Latifa’s second attempted escape from the UAE made headlines around the world after the publication in March 2018 of a video which she said would only be released if “I’m dead, or I’m in a very, very, very bad situation”.
Sir Andrew found proved claims by Tiina Jauhiainen, Latifa’s friend who tried to help her escape the UAE, that Indian special forces boarded a boat in international waters off the coast of Goa on March 4 2018, before Latifa was taken back to Dubai against her will.
The judge said Jauhiainen’s account of Latifa’s last words to her “say a great deal”.
He added: “She was pleading for the soldiers to kill her rather than face the prospect of going back to her family in Dubai.
“Drawing these matters together I conclude, on the balance of probability, that Latifa’s account of her motives for wishing to leave Dubai represents the truth.
“She was plainly desperate to extricate herself from her family and prepared to undertake a dangerous mission in order to do so.”
Princess Haya’s barrister, Charles Geekie QC, told the court in November of about a number of “appalling acts” perpetrated against his client, including anonymous notes being left in her bedroom, one of which read: “We will take your son – your daughter is ours – your life is over.”
The court heard that Sheikh Mohammed divorced Princess Haya – without her knowledge – on February 7 2019, the 20th anniversary of the death of her father, the late King Hussein of Jordan.
Sir Andrew said Princess Haya was “clear that the date will have been chosen by the father (Sheikh Mohammed) to maximise insult and upset to her”.
‘Frightening days’
In her evidence, Princess Haya described “one of the longest and most frightening days I ever remember living” in March 2019, when a helicopter landed outside her house and a pilot told her that he had come to take one passenger “to Awir”, the site of a prison in the desert.
She also claimed that a number of poems, in particular one published in June 2019 titled “You lived and died”, expressed “deliberate threats” to her.
Sir Andrew said he agreed with Geekie’s contention that the events between 2000 and the present day showed “a number of common themes, at the core of which is the use of the state and its apparatus to threaten, intimidate, mistreat and oppress with a total disregard for the rule of law”.
In a statement issued after the judgments were published, Sheikh Mohammed said: “This case concerns highly personal and private matters relating to our children.
“The appeal was made to protect the best interests and welfare of the children. The outcome does not protect my children from media attention in the way that other children in family proceedings in the UK are protected.
“As a head of government, I was not able to participate in the court’s fact-finding process. This has resulted in the release of a ‘fact-finding’ judgment which inevitably only tells one side of the story.
“I ask that the media respect the privacy of our children and do not intrude into their lives in the UK.”
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