The ex-wife of a ‘powerful’ Dubai prince has lost her battle for custody of their children and now faces ‘coercive force’ from the city’s police.
In a heart-rending video message released exclusively to the Daily Mail through her British lawyer David Haigh, Zeynab Javadli says the Dubai courts have ordered police to snatch back her three young daughters and deliver them to Sheikh Saeed bin Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
After losing a final appeal earlier today she filmed and live streamed people she claimed were male and female police officers outside her house preparing to ‘attack’.
In her video message she said: ‘I’m receiving UAE messages about bomb alerts and to seek shelter or stay inside for safety.
‘And at the same time the Dubai Courts are sending me notifications demanding I hand over my children or the Dubai Police will break into my house, arrest me and snatch my children away from me.
Sobbing she adds: ‘This is my day today. Standing [at the window], watching and waiting for them to attack me at any time.’
The court order states that she must ‘return custody of the minors’ to Sheikh Saeed, and that ‘coercive force may be used if necessary’.
However, Miss Javadli claims a previous legal agreement with his uncle, Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, a leading figure in British horseracing, gave her the right to keep the girls.
Court papers released in November last year revealed the 34-year-old former international gymnast’s case against Sheikh Saeed, a 49-year-old businessman and former Olympic clay shooter.
She alleged he caused their daughters distress and harm by leaving them without supervision, using inappropriate language, depriving them of sleep, and driving recklessly.
He countered that she refused to obey previous court orders and wants to keep the children away from him to ‘instil Western behaviour that does not befit Muslims, citizens of the UAE, and members of the Ruling Family in particular.’
Mr Haigh said Sheikh Saeed was ‘a powerful nephew of Dubai’s ruler’ who had previously taken his daughters and held them against their will for forty days.
‘Zeynab has been held hostage in her own home since last November, too terrified to step outside for fear of arrest under warrants and travel bans,’ he said.
‘This isn’t a safe country offering its residents protection, this is state-backed torment and torture.
What does this custody battle reveal about justice and human rights for mothers in Dubai?
‘Dubai has no human rights. The arrests of Westerners for simply reporting the truth about the missile attacks in recent weeks only prove it.’
The case is the latest in a string of high-profile scandals involving princesses of the Dubai ruling family.
They include Sheikh Mohammed’s former wife, Princess Haya, who fled the UAE seven years ago claiming she feared for her life.
Then in 2021 one of Sheikh Mohammed’s daughters, Princess Latifa, posted videos claiming to have been drugged and held captive by her father in a ‘villa jail’ after attempting to leave the country.
She later issued a statement saying she was ‘living as she wishes.’
The Daily Mail has contacted Sheikh Saeed’s lawyer and the Dubai Police for comment.
