Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum reportedly discussed the agreement in February 2019 which would have seen his daughter Princess Jalila – aged 11 – married to Bin Salman. The case was brought to light by the girl’s mother, Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, in a British court yesterday, as part of the marital feud between her and Al Maktoum. Princess Haya fled the UAE last year and filed for a divorce in the UK; she said the planned nuptials were a key reason why she ran away.
The billionaire ruler of Dubai has previously been accused of kidnapping his daughters; in 2000, Sheikha Shamsa Al-Maktoum tried to escape from her father’s $130 million estate in Surrey, UK, when she was 18-years-old. Shamsa was found in nearby Cambridge and forcibly returned to Dubai where no news has since been heard about her and where she is said to have been imprisoned and beaten.
Years later, in 2018, her sister Latifa tried to escape, crossing the border into Oman and then travelling 40 kilometres on a rubber boat, before meeting a former French Navy officer named Jean-Pierre Herve Jaubert who was waiting for her on his yacht. They sailed to Goa in India, where an Indian-UAE commando unit intercepted the yacht, abducted Latifa and imprisoned the crew.
The court also heard of Princess Haya’s alleged extra-marital affair with her personal bodyguard – a former British soldier named Russell Flowers – with whom she fled. Throughout their two-year affair she allegedly showered him with gifts and even a home in the English county of Suffolk where he stayed after their affair was revealed. He is now said to be in hiding, however, fearing for his life.
Documents released by a UK court examining the legal battle between Princess Haya bint Al-Hussein of Jordan and her former husband, the ruler of Dubai and the PM of the UAE Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum revealed many shocking details about the couple's dispute mostly centered around the Sheihk's relationship with three of his daughters, including Princess Haya's 12-year-old Sheikha Al Jalila.Upon the Supreme Court's decision to refuse Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid's request to conceal details of the case, many media outlets rushed to report the content as soon as it became public.
The judge has reportedly established that the 70-year-old Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid is guilty of having launched a campaign of intimidation against his ex-wife, the Jordanian princess, by the end of 2018. The princess explained that a gun was twice placed on her pillow with the safety catch off, while a helicopter landed outside her house threatening to transfer her to a remote desert prison.
Princess Haya also accused her former husband of arranging to force their then 11-years old daughter Sheikha Al Jalila to marry the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman. Yet, the judge concluded that this allegation fell "well short of the required standard" of proof.
Additionally, the case included Princess Haya's detailed accounts of the Sheikh's abduction of two of his adult daughters Sheikha Shamsa and Sheikha Latifa in 2000 and 2018, forcing at least one of them to live in a desert jail for years after a failed runaway attempt.
Sheikha Latifa had appeared in a 2018 video where she described her relationship with her father as abusive and provided details of her sister's fate since her attempt to escape the family in 2000. Latifa was reportedly abducted somewhere in the Indian ocean trying to escape from her father.
Last spring, Princess Haya, 45 managed to leave the UAE with her two kids with the help of foreign aids, arriving at Germany before settling in the UK, the battlefield for her and the Sheikh's legal lawsuit.
In July 2019, the Princess had applied for a forced marriage protection order at the Family Division of the High Court in London.
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