Kidnap, harassment, and intimidation: UK court lets loose on Dubai ruler

A fact-finding mission, commissioned by the UK High Court, has concluded that Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Makhtoum engaged in the unlawful abduction of two of his daughters, and also embarked on a harassment campaign targeting his estranged wife, Princess Haya bint Hussein of Jordan.

In July 2019, reports emerged that Princess Haya had fled Dubai to the UK and was seeking court protection for herself and her two children with Sheikh Mohammed.

She then applied for a protection order apparently in order to protect her daughter with Sheikh Mohammed from a forced marriage.

As part of her case, she cited two instances of abduction targeting Sheikh Mohammed’s daughters from two separate marriages.

The incidents involved Sheikh Mohammed’s daughters Shamsa, who was kidnapped from the UK to Dubai in 2000, and Latifa, who ran away and was abducted twice in 2002, and 2018.

Latifa’s abduction in 2018 on a boat in international waters off the shores of India was conducted by Indian and Emirati commandos.

Upon hearing Haya’s case, the British High Court set about establishing a fact-finding mission.  

The key allegations faced by Sheikh Mohammed were that he had: 

“Ordered and orchestrated the unlawful abduction of his daughter Shamsa from the United

Kingdom to Dubai.”

And: 

“Ordered and orchestrated the forcible return of his daughter Latifa to the family home in Dubai.”

Both women were said to be “deprived” of their liberty on their return to the UAE, according to testimony provided by Haya.

Further allegations related to the campaign of harassment faced by the Jordanian princess both in Dubai and after she fled to England.

The court said this was the result of the discovery of an affair she was having with a British bodyguard.

Fearing for her safety after the discovery of the affair, Haya said that she felt she had no other option but to flee.

Emirati aides to the Sheikh were said to have continued to target Haya with messages while she was in England.

The British High Court found that she had “proved her case”.

Sheikh Mohammed had moved to bring his two children with Haya back to the UAE. The establishment of his role in the abduction of his two daughters will make his case for the custody of children more difficult.

Haya currently lives in a $100 million townhouse in the upscale borough of Kensington in central London.