How to unfold a legal dispute that for years has pitted the Emir of Dubai and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, and his ex-wife, Princess Haya bint al-Hussein, in UK courts, a London jury decided this Thursday (24) that Haya will have custody of the couple’s two children.
The decision was supported by arguments that the emir had engaged in domestic violence against the princess, the half-sister of King Abdullah of Jordan, and had consistently demonstrated controlling behavior against family members who defied him.
“While on a scale entirely outside of that seen in the cases heard in this jurisdiction, the father’s behavior towards the mother of his children constitutes domestic abuse,” said Andrew McFarlane, Chief Justice of the Division of the Family of England and Wales.
This is the second setback for Mohammed in recent months. In December of last year, he was ordered to pay more than 554 million pounds (R$ 3.4 billion) to his ex-wife and two children – Jalila, 14, and Zayed, 10 -, an amount considered to be a record in damages for divorce granted by a London court.
At the time, the court ruled that the ruler of Dubai made Haya fear for his life and that he posed a “grave risk” to the children. For this reason, most of the billion-dollar compensation amount was intended precisely for the safety of the family, such as hiring guards and armored cars.
In a later statement, the sheikh, who did not attend the hearings, denied the allegations, said he loved his children and would always support them. Haya, in turn, thanked the British Justice and said that she would raise her children respecting the traditions of their countries of origin.
Judge McFarlane reinforced that Mohammed’s actions against his ex-wife constitute an “exorbitant” abuse, listing threats, spying and invasion of privacy by the ruler.
The saga of the court case began after Haya fled to the UK in April 2019, fearing for her safety after her husband discovered she was having an affair with a bodyguard. She reports that she was later blackmailed by members of her security team and that the sheikh orchestrated a campaign of intimidation against her, as well as hacking her and her lawyers’ phones.
The Family Division of England had already confirmed that Mohammed had ordered the phones of Haya and her lawyers to be hacked with Pegasus, Israeli software considered one of the most modern digital spy weapons ever made.
This is not the first case in which the sheikh has been accused of intimidating and trying to control family members. He has already been convicted of kidnapping and mistreating two of his daughters from another marriage – the princesses denounced the kidnapping orchestrated by their father to the British network BBC, which disclosed the allegations on one of its main journalistic programs, in February 2021.
The rulings against Mohammed, however, do not appear to have affected bilateral relations between the UK and the United Arab Emirates. Rich in oil, the country pledged last September to invest around US$ 13.6 billion (R$ 64 billion) in British clean energy. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, on a recent visit to Abu Dhabi, described the country as an important international partner.
