The ex-wife and three children of a Dubai prince have been “abducted” by Emirati police in a terrifying night raid, her British lawyer has claimed.
Zeynab Javadli, 34, allegedly faced threats and intimidation for years after divorcing Sheikh Saeed, 49, and was ordered to hand over the couple’s children two months ago.
Now her human rights lawyer David Haigh says Dubai Police carried out that threat in a night raid on her home.
In a statement shared with The Sun, Haigh said: “Zeynab’s home in Dubai has now been confirmed as locked and empty. This was not unexpected.
“From the moment of her divorce from the ruler’s nephew in 2019, Zeynab was subjected to horrific and unrelenting abuses: attacks on her home, threats of arrest, and a travel ban that made her, in every meaningful sense, a hostage in her own home.
“When Dubai Police last attacked her home, she livestreamed it to the world, a desperate, real-time plea for international help. Today, that plea must be answered.
“In Dubai, women and children are routinely served up on a gold platter to the most powerful sheikh, the most influential Emirati, or the wealthiest businessman.
“Zeynab’s case is yet further evidence that women and children in Dubai are simply not safe.
“They are treated as possessions, not as human beings with rights.”
Haigh said that whilst they hoped Zeynab would be left in peace, the late- night raid was somewhat inevitable.
He added: “I have stood by Zeynab’s side for many years. What too few people understand is the life [she] has actually been living.”
“Hidden from the world’s view, behind closed doors, she has endured a daily existence of the most extreme and systematic abuse, directed not only at her, but at her elderly parents and her three young daughters.
“These were not isolated incidents. They were relentless. They were deliberate.
“And they were carried out with total impunity by the authorities of Dubai and its powerful ruling family.
“I spoke with Zeynab many times each day for years. She never stopped fighting for her rights as a woman and as a mother.”
“She never stopped protecting her girls, most recently shielding her eldest daughter from the prospect of underage marriage.
“She is the bravest, most courageous human being I have ever known, and the most devoted mother I have ever witnessed. Her daughters are her entire world.
“Those three girls are princesses of Dubai’s ruling family. If this is how Dubai treats its own, imagine how it treats everyone else.”
Haigh added that Zeynab’s elderly mother had been out of the country during the raid, and was initially detained at Dubai airport upon her return.
She allegedly returned to the home to find the locks changed and her loved ones missing.
In another twist, Haigh highlights that Zeynab was neighbours with Princess Latifa.
The Emirati royal who made international headlines when she attempted to flee the UAE in 2018.
Days into her escape she was forcibly removed by armed men on a yacht off the coast of India, and taken back to Dubai.
Haigh told The Sun: “It’s ironic that her house is one away from the villa where Latifa resides under constant monitoring from Dubai police.”
In 2021, Latifa released a secret video to friends sharing fears that she may not survive.
She said commandos sent to capture her drugged her as she fled by boat and flew her back to detention in the United Arab Emirates.
