The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Ruler of Dubai carried out campaign against his family, court finds
The ruler of Dubai conducted a “campaign of fear and intimidation” against his former wife, forcing her to flee to London with their two children, the High Court has found.
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.
The 70-year-old vicepresident and prime minister of the UAE soon after applied for the summary return to Dubai of their daughter Al Jalila, 12, and son Zayed, eight.
But Princess Haya, 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.
In a judgment published yesterday 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.
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.
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.
All the findings of fact are vehemently denied by Sheikh Mohammed.
Princess Haya also alleged Sheikh Mohammed had made arrangements for Jalila, then aged 11, to be married to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman.
But Sir Andrew said that the hearsay evidence for that allegation fell “well short of the required standard” of proof.
In a separate judgment Sir Andrew ruled that assurances provided to the court by Sheikh Mohammed and the state of the UAE, waiving his immunity from English court orders, had “failed to afford the children any significant level of protection from the risk of abduction within England and Wales”.