Friday6 March 2020 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES 3
I N T E R N AT I O N A L
JA N E C R O F T A N D A N D R E W E N G L A N D
LO N D O N
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Mak-
toum, the ruler of Dubai, orchestrated a
campaign “aimed at intimidating and
frightening” his former wife that
included leaving a gun on her bed, the
HighCourtinLondonhasfound.
The court, hearing a case relating to
the welfare of their two children,
accepted evidence from Princess Haya
thatshehadbeenleft“terrified”and“in
a position of great fear” with no option
buttofleeDubaiwiththemlastApril.
The court also found that the deputy
president and prime minister of the
United Arab Emirates had previously
“ordered and orchestrated” the abduc-
tion of two daughters from an earlier
marriage. Sheikha Shamsa was taken
from the UK in 2000 and Sheikha Lat-
ifa, who fled Dubai by yacht two years
ago but was returned to the UAE after
Indiancommandosboardedthevessel.
The ruling, published yesterday, is
highly embarrassing for Sheikh
Mohammed, 70, who has overseen the
development of Dubai into the region’s
dominant trade, finance and tourism
hub. The billionaire had previously lost
an appeal to prevent release of the
detailsoftheproceedings.
Princess Haya and media organisa-
tions, including the Financial Times,
hadopposedthesheikh’sappeal.
In a statement, Sheikh Mohammed
said the findings were one-sided and
asked that his children’s privacy be
respected. “As a head of government I
was not able to participate in the court’s
fact-finding process, this has resulted in
the release of a fact-finding judgment
which inevitably tells only one side of
thestory,”hesaid.
Princess Haya, who graduated from
Oxford university and is half-sister to
King Abdullah of Jordan, was his sixth
wife. Sheikh Mohammed divorced her
in February last year and the two chil-
dren have been made wards of court in
the UK, meaning a judge has to approve
decisionsabouttheircare.
Andrew McFarlane, president of the
High Court’s family division, saidPrin-
cess Haya’s allegationswere “largely
provedonthebalanceofprobabilities”.
“The father has therefore acted in a
manner from the end of 2018 which has
been aimed at intimidating and fright-
ening the mother, and that he has
encouraged others to do so on his
behalf,”thecourtruled.
PrincessHayatoldthecourtsheexpe-
rienced a “more hostile climate” from
Sheikh Mohammed from early 2019
aftershehadanaffairwithabodyguard.
She also sought to involve herself in
“matters related to” Sheikha Shamsa
and Sheikha Latifa,who have been at
the centre of allegations of mistreat-
mentbytheirfather.
Incidents of intimidation against
Princess Haya included a gun being put
onherbedonatleasttwooccasionswith
thesafetycatchoff,accordingtotherul-
ing. Anonymous, threatening notes
were left in her bedroom, including one
that read: “We will take your son — your
daughterisours—yourlifeisover.”
Princess Haya also alleged that in
March last year one of Sheikh Moham-
med’s helicopters landed outside her
home when she was with her two chil-
dren, aged seven and 12, after which the
pilot told her he had come to take one
passengertoAwir,Dubai’smainprison.
“Bubba is angry with Momma. He is
going to send her to the jail in Awir;
that’s all there is there,” a security guard
toldoneofherchildren.
Theprincessdescribedtheincidentas
“one of the longest and most frightening
daysIeverrememberliving”.
According to the ruling, Sheikh
Mohammedconfirmedthatahelicopter
had landed at the property but con-tended that it was “simply a mistake”.
Sir Andrew said he found “that the
cumulative effect of each of these epi-
sodes was to place the mother in a posi-
tion of great fear, leading her to con-
cludethatshehadnooptionbuttoleave
Dubaiwiththechildren”.
However, Sir Andrew said he did not
accept an allegation made by Princess
Haya that Sheikh Mohammed or his
agents had sought to arrange for her
daughter, then 11, to be married to
Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi
crownprince.
PrincessHayahadappliedtotheHigh
Court for a forced marriage protection
order in respect of her daughter and for
a non-molestation order “for her own
protection”.
The judge also accepted evidence
from Princess Haya that the sheikh
ordered the unlawful abduction of
SheikhaShamsafromtheUKin2002.
Sheikh Mohammed, who did not
attend court to participate in the fact-
finding hearing, said in his witness
statementthatheandSheikhaShamsa’s
mother “jointly decided to organise a
search for her [in the UK]. When shewas found, I remember our feeling of
overwhelmingreliefthatshewassafe.”
Regarding the return of Sheikha Lat-
ifa to Dubai in 2018 after an attempted
escape, Sir Andrew concluded that he
felt “confident” relying on what she had
said about the incident in a video
releasedonYouTubeatthetime.
“If you are watching this video it’s not
such a good thing, either I’m dead or I’m
in a very, very bad situation,” Sheikha
Latifasaidinthevideo.
Friends of Sheikha Lafita have said
she was seized off Goa by Indian and
Emirati forcesin March 2018 and forci-
blyreturnedtoDubai.
Neither Sheikha Shamsa nor Sheikha
Latifahavebeeninvolvedinthetrial.Sir
Andrew said he did not accept that the
sisters, who live in family accommoda-
tion in Dubai, were given a “free choice
aboutengaginginthecourtprocess”.
Sheikh Mohammed did not contest
the details in his witness statement, but
said: “We feared that our daughter was
in the hands of a criminal who might
hold her to ransom and harm her. To
this day I consider that Latifa’s return to
Dubaiwasarescuemission.”Legal battle
Dubai ruler behind threats and abduction, court says
J I M B R U N S D E N— B R U S S E L S
Michel Barnier warned yesterday of
“very, very difficult” areas of disagree-
ment with the UK after the first round
of negotiations on the EU’s future rela-
tionshipwiththeUKendedinBrussels.
Mr Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negoti-
ator, said this week’s meetings high-
lightedfourareasof“veryseriousdiver-
gence” including fishing rights in UK
waters,theroleoftheEuropeanCourtof
Justice, Britain’s determination not to
align with EU rules, and how any future
dealispoliced.
Mr Barnier was particularly critical of
Britain’s insistence that fishing rights to
its waters are decided by annual negoti-
ations with the EU, something the Brit-
ish government says reflects its future
statusasanindependentcoastalstate.
“This is absolutely impractical,” he
said. “It is [a] dangerous job; we have a
lot of respect for men and women that
do that job, they deserve visibility
[aboutfuturequotas],”MrBarniersaid.
After weeks of noisy build-up, talks
on the future relationship between the
UK and EU finally got under way on
Monday with more than 200 officials
from both sides involved in the discus-
sions at a conference centre near the
centreofBrussels.
Britain and Brussels have pledged to
work intensively to reach an agreement
by the end of this year, when the UK
post-Brexit ransition period is due tot
end, meaning the country will leave the
EU’ssinglemarketandcustomsunion.
But the two sides have entered the
negotiations with opposing positions on
anumberofcriticalareas.
David Frost, the UK’s chief negotiator,
has emphasised Britain’s determination
to escape the EU’s regulatory orbit and
assertitssovereignrights,whiletheEU’s
starting point is that extensive market
access must be linked to respect for the
bloc’srules.
A UK government spokesperson said:
“These are going to be tough negotia-
tions;thisisjustthefirstround.”
The British negotiation team “made
clear that, on January 1 2021, we would
regain our legal and economic inde-
pendence and that the future relation-
ship must reflect that fact”, the spokes-
personadded.
Mr Barnier said there would be no
EU-UK trade agreement unless Britain
gave ground on fish. The EU has entered
the future relationship negotiations
seeking to retain its existing rights to
fishinBritishwaters,andtostrikeadeal
thatgiveslong-termcertaintytoitsanx-
ious fleet. “A balanced solution on fish
has to be part of the trade deal, if we
wantatradedeal,”hesaid.
The EU chief negotiator also warned
that sharing of crucial law-enforcement
information, such as DNA data, would
not be possible unless Britain backed
down in its opposition to the ECJ having
a role in the future relationship as the
ultimateinterpreterofEUlaw.
“If the UK position is maintained, this
will have an immediate and concrete
effect on our level of co-operation,” he
said.
Linked to this,Mr Barnier also said
Britain’s refusal to make binding com-
mitments to continue upholding the
European Convention of Human Rights
posed a threat to future judicial and
securityco-operation.
But there are also other obstacles to
future law enforcement co-operation.
The EU has warned UK authorities will
not be able to access some databases
after the end of Britain’s transition
period because it is not legally possible
for the EU to open them to countries
outside the union and the Schengen
travel-freearea.
AseniorUKofficialsaid:“Oncriminal
justice we set out a pragmatic offer. In
someareasthereareclearthird-country
arrangements where it was possible to
have a decent conversation. In others it
wasmoredifficult.”
Another area of disagreement is Brus-
sels’ demand that Britain sign up to a
“level playing field” of common rules in
exchange for a tariff-free, quota-free
trade deal, including full compliance
withthebloc’sstateaidrestrictions.
The UK has likened the demands to
vassalage, but Mr Barnier said he did
not understand why the UK could not
sign up given its insistence that it will, in
any case, maintain existing high regula-
torystandards.
On governance, Britain is seeking a
future relationship based on what Mr
Barnier described as “a multitude” of
deals covering different areas of co-
operation, whereas the EU wants an
overarching agreement with one single
dispute-settlementsystem.
Notebook age 8pEarly negotiations
EU and UK admit to ‘difficult’
areas of disagreement on ties
Family division accepts
princess’s evidence that
she was left ‘terrified’
Sheikh Mohammed and Princess Haya on Derby Day in 2016— Dave Benett/Getty‘If you are watching this
video it’s not such a good
thing, either I’m dead or in
a very, very bad situation’
Michel Barnier:
EU chief negotiator
was particularly
critical of Britain’s
position on
fishing rightsLegal Notices
MARCH 6 2020 Section:World Time: 3/20205/ - 18:42 User:john.conlon Page Name:WORLD2 USA, Part,Page,Edition:USA, 3, 1