For British justice, there is no longer any doubt. The Emir of Dubai ordered the abduction of two of his daughters and "intimidated" one of his wives to the point of forcing her to flee to the United Kingdom, a London judge said on Thursday March 5, concluding the many episodes of this story.

The judge was to rule on a battle between British justice Mohammed ben Rached al-Maktoum, 70, who is also head of the government of the United Arab Emirates, and his sixth wife, Princess Haya of Jordan, 45.

Last summer, the latter - also half-sister of the King of Jordan Abdullah II and an Olympic level rider - had created a sensation by fleeing to London with her two children, aged 8 and 12 years old.

She had initiated proceedings there against her husband, who, she said, divorced in secret in early 2019. She had also asked the judge for Family Affairs of the High Court of Justice in London to benefit from a measure of protection against marriage forced which could concern one of the couple's children. She also sought protection from 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.

To rule, the British justice system had to rule on several elements of the hectic life of the Emirati family in recent years. Concerning Princess Haya herself, the judge considers that the emir "acted, from the end of 2018, in a manner aimed at (intimidating and (frightening) him").

The emir had tried to prevent these elements from being made public, seizing the Supreme Court which refused Thursday morning to examine his appeal. In a press release, he denounced a judgment which "relates only 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.

Escape attempt

Another embarrassing affair for Dubai, which heals its image as a large international financial center and a luxury paradise for tourists: justice has also been called upon to rule on two episodes of the past which had fueled the chronicle: the fate of two girls, Shamsa and Latifa, who the emir had with another wife.

According to the judge, Sheikh Mohammed ben Rached al-Maktoum "sponsored and orchestrated" their abduction.

In 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 attempt to escape on a sailboat when she was only a teenager in 2002, criticizing a "father who did not think that in his image "and that" destroyed the lives of so many people ".

The government in Dubai ended up breaking the 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, 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 and "locked up".

In his judgment, the London judge said that he had received information about her return, citing an email in which she said she had been abducted by four armed men in Cambridge, received "two injections and a handful of tablets" and taken by helicopter to an airplane who transported her to Dubai. She has not been seen in public since.

With AFP

The France 24 week summary invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Download the app

google-play-badge_FR