British court considers publishing rulings of Princess Haya’s case against her husband

The Court of Appeal in London heard rulings issued at the latest stage in a legal battle between Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and his wife, Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein.

The court is scheduled to hear bin Rashid’s appeal to publish previous rulings in the case, issued by the English Supreme Court last November. In court, it was said that Princess Haya, 45, and the guardian of the children appointed by the court, supported the publication of the rulings.

At the end of last July, Princess Haya asked the Royal Court of Justice in London to the guardianship of her two children: Jalilah, 11, and Zayed, 7, and to provide them with protection.

The family court judge, Sir Andrew McFarlane, allowed the media to announce that the princess had applied for guardianship of her two children, not to be harassed or threatened, and to protect them from the consequences of forced marriage.

Judge McFarlane rejected a request from Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid’s lawyer to obtain details of protection orders subject to reporting restrictions. Lawyers for the ruler of Dubai also applied for the speedy return of the children to Dubai.

After the session, Princess Haya and Sheikh Mohammed issued a statement, in which they confirmed that the procedures before the court “relate to the well-being of the two children, and are not related to divorce or financial affairs,” according to the British newspaper, The Guardian.

Sheikh Mohammed, 70, who is also the Vice President of the UAE, married the princess who was a member of the International Olympic Committee in 2004, while he was believed to be his sixth marriage.

The Jordanian princess left Dubai first for Germany, and from there to the United Kingdom, and she lives under strict security protection in a house behind Buckingham walls, and filed for divorce in London, in exchange for another lawsuit filed by the ruler of Dubai, requesting custody of the children.

In February 2018, Princess Latifa, the daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, escaped from her family on a yacht with the help of a former French spy named Hervey Joubert and her Finnish friend Tina Jawien, before her father sent a team to track her, and returned home by force after a few days.

The 33-year-old princess managed to leak a 39-minute video clip after her arrest, in which she accused her father of mistreating her and her sisters, depriving her of driving and traveling, and keeping her under surveillance by the security services, especially after her first escape attempt in 2000.

Princess Latifa also pointed out that her older sister, Shamsa, tried to escape before and failed, which led to her drugging and placing her in the palace prison for years and asked those who watched the video to help her to save her life, and it is reported that today she is under medical remand in the UAE, according to the “Le Figaro” website.

Human Rights Watch, the international human rights organization, asked the UAE last year to disclose more information about Latifa, saying that failure to reveal the existence of the princess could be considered an enforced disappearance, given the evidence that indicates that it was the last time she was seen The UAE authorities are holding her.

A report issued by “Amnesty International” also criticized the UAE for violating human rights, and accused it of continuing to arbitrarily restrict freedom of expression and association, and using criminal defamation and anti-terrorism laws to detain, prosecute, convict, and imprison critics of the government and human rights defenders.