Mohammed bin Rached Al Maktoum, March 26, 2005 in Dubai. - RABIH MOGHRABI / AFP

The emir of Dubai has ordered the kidnapping of two of his daughters and "intimidated" one of his wives, Princess Haya of Jordan, forcing her to flee for the United Kingdom, British justice ruled on Thursday.

The findings of a London judge were made in a court battle between Mohammed ben Rached al-Maktoum, 70, who is also head of the government of the United Arab Emirates, and Princess Haya, 45. The latter, who in 2004 became the sixth wife of the 70-year-old Emirati ruler, created a sensation last summer by fleeing to London, taking their two children, now aged 8 and 12, away.

A request for protection against brutality

She launched unprecedented proceedings against her husband, who she said she divorced in secret in early 2019. She asked the judge for Family Affairs of the High Court of Justice in London to benefit from a measure of protection against forced marriage which could concern one of the couple's children. She also asked for protective measures against brutality and claimed custody of her children.

Sheikh Mohammed ben Rached al-Maktoum claims, for his part, the return of his children to the Emirates. In concluding on certain procedural points, the judge considers that the emir "acted, from the end of 2018, in a manner aimed at intimidating and frightening" the princess. In this procedure, Princess Haya asked the justice to rule in particular on the fate of two girls, Shamsa and Latifa, that the emir had with another wife. According to the judge, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rached al-Maktoum "sponsored and orchestrated" the kidnapping of the latter.

"Tortured and imprisoned" for three years

In a press release, the emir denounced a judgment which “inevitably only relates to one side of the case” and “does not protect (his) children from the attention of the media”, calling for respect for the privacy of his family. In March 2018, Latifa al-Maktoum, 32, announced in a video posted on Youtube that she wanted to flee her country.

On the verge of tears, she said that she had been "tortured" and "imprisoned for three years" by her father after a first escape attempt when she was only a teenager in 2002, criticizing a "father who does not think that in his image "and that" destroyed the lives of so many people ". "I'm making this video in case it fails," she said. The video was published because the attempt, worthy of a thriller in troubled waters and launched on February 24, 2018, indeed, failed dramatically. The government in Dubai ended by breaking its silence on this incredible affair on April 17, 2018, confirming that the princess had been "brought back" to her family and that she was "well".

At just 18 years old, her sister Shamsa, who was born in 1981, had tried to flee her father in 2000 while she was on vacation in England. According to Latifa's account, the girl was found after two months on the run, "drugged", brought back to Dubai in a private jet and "locked up".

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