Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (R) and his wife Princess Haya bint al-Hussein of Jordan in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, May 10, 2016. A British court has awarded child custody to Princess Haya due to “domestic abuse. ” Photo by Ali Haider/EPA-EFE
March 24 (UPI) — The family division of the high court in England and Wales has ruled that the ruler of Dubai will have no face-to-face contact with his children from his marriage to Princess Haya.
The court said Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum “consistently displayed coercive and controlling behavior with respect to those members of his family who he regards as having contrary to his will.”
Princess Haya was granted custody of the two children. The princess and the children fled to Britain in 2019.
A British court in December ordered the Sheikh to pay Haya and her children more than $700 million, believed to be the most expensive divorce settlement in British history.
Sir Andrew McFarlane wrote in the high court judgment that the Dubai ruler had used “domestic abuse” and orchestrated the abductions and confinement of two of his children.
In the divorce finding Sir McFarlane wrote that, “in August 2000 the father ordered and orchestrated the unlawful abduction of his daughter Shamsa from the United Kingdom to Dubai.”
The father also “on two occasions in June 2002 and February 2018, the father ordered and orchestrated the forcible return of his daughter Latifa to the family home in Dubai.”
The court said Princess Haya was also subjected to a campaign of fear and intimidation regarding the children.
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