Zaynab Jawadli, the former wife of a Dubai Sheikh, has been reportedly abducted by Dubai police along with her three young children. Jawadli lost contact on the evening of June 2nd. This information was reported by the Daily Mail on Thursday, June 4th, citing British human rights activist David Haig.
According to the publication, Jawadli’s elderly mother flew to Dubai the following day to support her daughter and granddaughters, only to find her daughter’s apartment locked. Haig claims that Dubai police and UAE state security forces raided Jawadli’s home. This occurred a month after Dubai courts ruled to transfer custody of Jawadli’s three daughters – Sana, Asia, and Salma – to their father. An April ruling explicitly stated that “force may be used if necessary” for this purpose.
Just two months prior, Jawadli herself stated in a desperate video appeal that she had received a warning: if she did not voluntarily hand over the children, the police would raid her home, arrest her, and forcibly take the girls.
Her lawyer stated that since their divorce in 2019, his client has been subjected to “horrific abuse.” She was issued a permanent travel ban from the emirate, effectively making her a hostage in her own apartment.
Haig described Zaynab as the bravest person he knows. He mentioned that she had been fighting her ex-husband for years and even managed to thwart a planned marriage of their underage elder daughter by the Sheikh. Haig stated he would seek UN intervention.
“In Dubai, women and children are served on a silver platter to influential sheikhs. Zaynab’s case is further proof that women and children in the emirate are not safe. They are treated as property, not as people with rights,” the DM quoted Haig as saying.
