Dubai ruler had ex-wife’s phone hacked, UK court rules
- Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum ordered the hack as part of an ‘intimidation campaign’ during a custody battle with Princess Haya
- Those working for him also tried to buy a mansion next door to Haya’s estate near London, leaving her feeling hunted and unsafe, the court found
Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum ordered the phones of his ex-wife and her lawyers to be hacked as part of a “sustained campaign of intimidation and threat” during the custody battle over their children, England’s High Court has ruled.
Mohammed used the sophisticated “Pegasus” software, developed by Israeli firm NSO for states to counter national security risks, to hack the phones of Princess Haya bint al-Hussein, half-sister of Jordan’s King Abdullah, and some of those closely connected to her, according to the rulings.
Those working for him also tried to buy a mansion next door to Haya’s estate near the British capital, intimidatory action that the court ruled had left her feeling hunted, unsafe and like she “cannot breathe any more”.
The latest rulings come 19 months after the court concluded that Mohammed had abducted two of his daughters, mistreated them and held them against their will.
It feels like the walls are closing in on me, that I cannot protect the children and that we are not safe anywhere
“The findings represent a total abuse of trust, and indeed an abuse of power to a significant extent,” Judge Andrew McFarlane, President of the Family Division in England and Wales, said in his ruling.
The sheikh rejected the court’s conclusions, saying they were based on an incomplete picture.