The High Court in London concluded, Thursday, the Dubai ruler’s harassment and intimidation of his ex-wife to a “particularly disproportionate level”, after a legal battle over their two children who will be entrusted to their mother, Princess Haya. .
Chief Justice Andrew MacFarlane said in a statement issued Thursday that Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, 72, “has consistently demonstrated coercive and manipulative behavior towards members of his family whom he considers to be acting against his will.”
This decision comes in a legal confrontation between the ruler of Dubai and his sixth wife, Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, 47, the daughter of the late King Hussein bin Talal. She fled the United Arab Emirates for London in 2019, saying she was “terrified” by her then-husband.
The Supreme Court had ruled in October 2021 that Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who has long-standing diplomatic relations with Elizabeth II and shares the Queen’s love of horses, had authorized the hacking of his wife’s and his wife’s phone. His British lawyer.
The judge noted that the king “harassed and intimidated the mother before she left for England and since then.”
In March 2020, the family court determined that the king “sponsored and orchestrated” the kidnapping of two of his daughters by another wife, Princess Shamsha in 2000 in Cambridge, and her sister Latifa.
In a ruling issued in December 2021, the head of the UAE government ordered a payment of more than 640 million euros to his ex-wife and their sons, Al Jalila, 14, and Zayed, 10, a record sum. .
Princess Haya will now be solely responsible for the two children in terms of medical care and education. The children’s parent may be in indirect contact with them, for example by phone.
Citing “threats” by the Dubai ruler, “coordinating press articles”, “secret arrangements to purchase a property immediately adjacent to it”, or even “telephone hacking”, the judge declared that he had shown harassment of “to a high degree, even particularly disproportionate”.
In a statement, Princess Haya likened the past few years to a “scary journey” but said she had found an “exceptional sanctuary, protection and mercy” in Britain.
A spokesman for Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said he “loves his children” and “has always cared for and cared for them and always will.”
He added that he “continues to deny the allegations in this controversial procedure.”
