Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Muhammad bin Rashid Al-Maktoum is reportedly behind the hacking of his ex-wife’s phone.
London:
Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum ordered the phones of his ex-wife and their lawyers to be hacked during a custody battle over their children, following “continued campaigns of intimidation and intimidation” during a custody battle over their children. Under, the High Court of England ruled.
Mohamed used sophisticated “Pegasus” software developed by the Israeli firm NSO for states to counter national security risks, to hack the phone of Princess Haya bint al-Hussein, half-sister of King Abdullah of Jordan, and among them Some were closely related to him. , according to the rules.
Those working for her also tried to buy a mansion next to Haya’s property near the British capital, an act of intimidation that the court had ruled she felt victimized, unsafe and as if she “can no longer breathe.” can”.
The latest rulings came 19 months after the court concluded that Mohammed had kidnapped, abused and kept two of his daughters against his will.
“The findings represent a total abuse of trust, and indeed an abuse of power to a significant extent,” said Judge Andrew MacFarlane, chair of the Families Division in England and Wales, in his ruling.
Shaikh dismissed the court’s findings saying they were based on an incomplete picture.
“I have always denied the allegations leveled against me and I continue to do so,” he said in a statement.
“Furthermore, the findings were based on evidence that was not disclosed to me or my advisors. I therefore maintain that they were made in a way that was unfair.”
Mohamed, 72, and Haya, 47, are involved in a long, bitter and costly custody battle as she flees Britain with her two children, 13-year-old Jalila and 9-year-old Zayed. He said that he feared for his safety amid doubts. He had an affair with one of his British bodyguards.
Among those targeted by the hacking was Fiona Shackleton, a lawyer for Haya, a member of Britain’s House of Lords who represented British heir Prince Charles in his divorce from his late first wife, Princess Diana.
The court was told that this activity came to light in August last year, when Shackleton was immediately informed by Cheri Blair, the wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, that she and Haya had been hacked.
Blair is also a prominent lawyer who has served as an external advisor to the NSO.
Also a cyber expert at the University of Toronto’s internet watchdog Citizen Lab, which researches digital surveillance, also alerted Haya’s lawyers after tracking the hacking, the court heard.
After the hacking was exposed, NSO terminated its contract with the UAE, Haya’s lawyers said. The Israeli firm said it could not immediately comment on the matter, but said it would act if it found evidence of Pegasus abuse.
Shackleton and Blair declined to comment.
Mohamed is regarded as the visionary force behind Dubai’s ascent to the global commercial hub. They have tried to burnish the Gulf City’s reputation on issues such as human rights and equality.
There is no indication that last year’s decision caused any major damage to him personally or to the UAE. Last month the UK and UAE announced a “new, ambitious partnership for the future”, involving billions of dollars in trade and investment.
long, costly battle
The reporting ban on MacFarlane’s findings was lifted after a year-long hearing on Wednesday.
The British-educated princess said, “I don’t think I can move freely as things stand now, while I feel victimized all the time and am forced to look over my shoulder every moment of the day ” statement of a witness
The legal cost of the case has run into the millions of pounds, with some of Britain’s most prominent lawyers involved in the case. The cost of an appeal alone was cited by the court as a cost of £2.5 million.
Sheikh, who is the vice-president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, initially sought to bring the children back to Dubai, but has since faced repeated defeats in English courts.
In a ruling issued on Wednesday, MacFarlane ruled that children must live with their mothers.
In a ruling published last March, the judge concluded that Mohamed had subjected Haya to a campaign of intimidation, causing fear for her life.
They conclude that the Sheikh had arranged for his daughter, Shamsa, who was then 18, kidnapped from the streets of Cambridge in central England in 2000 and driven back to Dubai.
The judge also found that it was proved that Mohammed had arranged for Shamsa’s younger sister Latifa to be snatched from a boat in international waters from India by Indian forces in 2018 and returned to the emirate.
While his findings do not amount to a determination of criminal felony, they mean that MacFarlane is satisfied that the charges are proven on a balance of probabilities and that this may affect the arrangement of contact with his children in the future.
“As the previous findings of fact establish, the father, who is the head of government of the United Arab Emirates, is ready to use the hand of the state to achieve what he believes is right,” he said.
“He has harassed and threatened the mother before and since moving to England. He is prepared to face those acting on behalf of those who do so illegally within the UK.”
friends with queen
Haya’s lawyers told the court that the British Foreign Office had been made aware of the hacking allegations, and that police had expressed a desire to interview Haya and her lawyers as victims. Reuters was unable to establish whether this had happened.
London police said last year detectives launched a five-month investigation after receiving allegations of phone hacking. But in February, the investigation was closed due to lack of “opportunities for further exploration”.
There was no immediate comment from the Ministry of External Affairs.
This is not the first time that UAE’s cyber activities have come under scrutiny. Last month, three former US intelligence operatives working as UAE cyber spies admitted to violating US hacking laws to spy on human rights activists, journalists and rival governments.
During the London hearing, Mohamed’s high-powered team of lawyers fought for months to stop the court from considering the hacking charges, saying he did not have jurisdiction and immunity, and then told the judge Tried to explain that it was Sheikh. not responsible.
Saudi Arabia and Jordan were among several other countries that could have been behind it, their legal team said.
MacFarlane rejected those suggestions, saying that the idea that Jordan might have been “was so meaningless without consequence” and was critical of how Sheik had instructed his lawyers to act on his behalf.
In his statement, Mohamed said that it was not appropriate for him to appear in court himself and that neither the United Arab Emirates nor the Emirates were parties to the case and therefore could not participate.
“Instead of showing any concern for the safety of the mother of her children, she has marshaled a formidable forensic team to challenge the findings sought by the mother and fight the case against her at every point,” MacFarlane said.
They concluded, and the Court of Appeals agreed, that Sheikh had authorized the hacking of six phones that took place between July and August 2020 when a vulnerability in Apple’s iPhone system was exploited.
Expert cyber analysis revealed that once 265 megabytes of data was downloaded from Haya’s phone, which is equivalent to 24 hours of voice recordings or 500 photos.
How much data and what information was taken from him and other phones, it is not known.
Haya and Mohamed have been fixtures in British high society for decades and both are on friendly terms with members of the British royal family, including Queen Elizabeth.
Sheik, through the Godolphin stable, which he founded, is a major player and investor in the British horse racing industry. His horse Adyar won this year’s famous Epsom Derby flat race.
McFarlane also extended the provisions of a previous non-molestation order, which prohibited Sheik from purchasing any land or property near his property in rural Berkshire, west of London, after his agents paid $30 million overlooking his home. Tried to buy a pound mansion. .
“It feels like the walls are closing in on me, that I can’t protect the kids and that we’re nowhere safe,” Haya told MacFarlane in a statement. “I feel like I can’t breathe anymore, it’s like suffocation.”
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
.