Sheikha Latifa and Sheikha Shamsa kidnapping allegations :
Mohammed has three daughters named Latifa. The other two daughters are not connected to this allegation. An early 2000s British police investigation of allegations, made by a former riding instructor about the attempted escape of Mohammed's daughter
Latifa (born 1985) from her family estate in England and the subsequent kidnapping on a street in
Cambridge of Latifa's sister
Shamsa in 2001, was inconclusive. He has been indicted due to the mistreatment of Sheikha Latifa Al Maktoum since then. . On 11 March 2018, a video was released of Sheikha Latifa after her failed attempt to flee the UAE and subsequent disappearance, in which she claimed she was fleeing from her family, made allegations of abuse, and said her father was responsible for a number of murders, including the murder of his deceased older brother's wife. The escape attempt was the focus of a documentary by Australian broadcaster
Nine News as well as
BBC Newsnight investigation. In December 2018, former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Mary Robinson, after meeting Latifa in the presence of other family members, said that Latifa was now in the care of her family. Her statement was criticised by human rights groups, who said that Robinson would not have been able to tell in the meeting whether Latifa truly had psychological issues. A spokeswoman for "The Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice" confirmed that Robinson was approached by Latifa's stepmother
Princess Haya bint Hussein, an old friend of Robinson's, and was requested to go to Dubai by Princess Haya and that Haya paid the fare, less than two weeks after the
BBC ran a documentary detailing Latifa's failed escape attempt in March. Robinson admits she was "horribly tricked" when photographs of the private lunch were made public and that both she and Haya had been told of details of Latifa's
bipolar disorder, a condition which she does not have. Latifa's cousin Marcus Essabri reported that Latifa's photos with Mary Robinson seem to show Latifa medicated while held in Dubai under her father's orders. In February 2021, video footage obtained by the BBC showed Latifa saying she has been "a hostage" for over a year "with no access to medical help" in "
solitary confinement" without access to medical or legal help in a "villa jail" with windows and doors barred shut, and guarded by police. The governments of Dubai and the UAE have not responded to requests for comment from the BBC. Despite her family's insistence that she has been enjoying time with them at home the past two years, Latifa says in the series of videos released by her advocates that she is "a hostage" and fears for her life. "Every day, I'm worried about my safety in my life. I don't really know if I'm going to survive this situation. The police threaten me that they would take me outside and shoot me if I didn't cooperate with them," she said. "They also threatened me that I would be in prison my whole life and I'll never see the sun again." In 2021, investigative reporting into the
Pegasus spyware found that Latifa's name was added to a list of names that were potential targets of the spyware just days before she was seized by Indian commandos, off the coast of India, while she was aboard a yacht in an attempt to flee Dubai. A brief statement issued on Latifa's behalf by law firm
Taylor Wessing stated that she was free to travel and requested privacy. In the same year the #FreeLatifa campaign ended after Latifa had been photographed in public places such as Dubai, Spain and Iceland.
Princess Haya escape In June 2019, Princess Haya fled Dubai along with her two children, a son and a daughter, and was in Germany seeking
political asylum. A subsequent poem composed by Mohammed (an occasional couplet-writer) and posted on
Instagram alluded to betrayal in love. Haya moved from Germany to the United Kingdom, filed for
sole custody of their two children, a
forced marriage protection order (FMPO), and a
non-molestation order at the
High Court of Justice in London in July 2019. reportedly including guns placed on her pillow. The findings were published in March 2021. In October 2021, the
High Court ruled that Mohammed's agents used the Israeli
Pegasus spyware to hack the phones of Princess Haya, her solicitors, a personal assistant and two members of her security team in the summer of 2020. The court ruled that the agents acted "with the express or implied authority" of the sheikh; he denied knowledge of the hacking. The judgment referred to the hacking as "serial breaches of (UK) domestic criminal law", "in violation of fundamental common law and
ECHR rights", "interference with the process of this court and the mother's access to justice" and "abuse of power" by a
head of state. In December 2021, Haya was granted full custody of her children, and
alimony and support in the amount of US$720 million. In 2022, the court ordered that there should be no direct contact between Mohammed and his children, and no input by him into decision-making about their lives.
Child camel jockeys In September 2006, Mohammed was accused of encouraging the abduction and
enslavement of thousands of boys for use as jockeys in
camel races. A
class-action suit was filed against him in the US state of Florida. In 2006, American lawyers representing the UAE raised a motion to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that none of the involved parties resided in the US, arguing that the UN program best served the interests of the children. In July 2007, Judge
Cecilia Altonaga accepted the motion and dismissed the suit. A 2006
UNICEF-sponsored program with the UAE government resulted in the repatriation of hundreds of children formerly
enslaved as
camel jockeys, and provided them with social services and compensation upon return to their home countries of Pakistan, Sudan, Mauritania, and Bangladesh. The UAE government set aside US$2.7 million in initial funding in 2005 with an additional $9 million for the second phase, and to enforce compliance, adopted a law officially banning the practice with penalties of jail time and a $27,200 fine.
UNICEF endorsed the UAE's efforts and expressed the hopes that "the UAE's programme will serve as a model to other countries in the region, as a means of ending all forms of exploitation of children".
Horse racing drugs scandal In April 2013, Mohammed's Godolphin stables trainer
Mahmood Al Zarooni was disqualified for eight years from
thoroughbred horse racing by the
British Horseracing Authority for administering
steroids to eleven racehorses. Mohammed stated that he was "appalled and angered" by the case and announced that the stable would be locked down while drug tests were carried out on all horses under Al Zarooni's care. In May, Mohammed, as prime minister of the UAE, issued a decree outlawing and criminalizing the use of
anabolic steroids on horses in the UAE. His son,
Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, had previously been banned from competition after it was found one of his horses was competing while on a steroid. In October 2013, Mohammed faced another scandal in the venue of
horseracing, with reports of potentially toxic and dangerous steroids,
anaesthetics, and
anti-inflammatory drugs being shipped into the UAE, mislabeled as "
horse tack".
The Telegraph commented that a "PR campaign is already underway, with Sheikh Mohammed again cast as a victim of employee malpractice".
Pandora Papers In October 2021, an investigation by the
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) revealed that over 330 prominent politicians and public officials across the world had ties with offshore companies. Amongst them were 35 current and former world leaders. The leaked 11.9 million files revealed that Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum also used offshore companies to manage and expand his wealth. In order to carry out his dealings, he registered three companies in the
tax havens of the
British Virgin Islands (BVI) and the Bahamas. Registered by an Emirati firm, Axiom Limited, the three companies were Tandem Investco Limited and Tandem DirectorCo Limited in BVI and Allied International Investments Limited in the Bahamas. Partly owned by the
Dubai Holding, in which Mohammed owns major shares, Axiom Limited used the three companies to "expand its core business". == Personal life ==