UK court grants Jordanian princess custody of children with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai after excessive domestic abuse on her.
Sheikh Mohammed and his former wife, Princess Haya bint Al Hussein, half-sister of Jordan’s King Abdullah, have been in a three-year custody fight at the High Court in London.
The Dubai ruler had made Haya fear for her life, had abducted and mistreated two of his daughters from a previous marriage, and had ordered the phones of Haya and her lawyers, one of whom was a British politician, to be hacked using the Israeli state security software “Pegasus,” according to the London court.
It has also decided that Sheikh Mohammed, the UAE’s vice president, and prime minister, must pay a British record of more than 554 million pounds ($730 million) for the children’s long-term security and upkeep.
Andrew McFarlane, President of the Family Division in England and Wales, claimed Sheikh Mohammed had “consistently demonstrated coercive and controlling behavior” against family members who rejected his will in his final decision against the Gulf royal.
“The father’s behavior toward the mother of his children constitutes ‘domestic abuse,’ even if it was carried out on a scale that is far outside the regular conditions of cases tried in the Family Court in this jurisdiction,” McFarlane stated.
The judge determined that Haya should make all decisions regarding the education and health of the couple’s two children, Jalila, 14, and Zayed, 10, with Sheikh Mohammed just being kept informed.
Sheikh Mohammed has decided not to pursue direct contact with the children, so his interaction with them will be confined to phone calls and messages, according to McFarlane.
Sheikh Mohammed, according to the judge, was a loving father who cherished his two children. He did, however, criticize the sheikh’s conduct during the dispute, which had taken a toll on Haya, as well as his failure to recognize his ex-role wife’s in child care.
“Whether by threats, poems, coordinating newspaper reports, covertly arranging to purchase land immediately overlooking hers, phone-hacking, or in the course of this case, His Highness’s behavior towards the mother has been abusive to a high, indeed extravagant, degree,” McFarlane stat
