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	"created_at": "2026-04-06T00:18:58.781505Z",
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	"title": "Princess Haya: Dubai ruler had ex-wife's phone hacked - UK court",
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	"plain_text": "Princess Haya: Dubai ruler had ex-wife's phone hacked - UK court\r\nBy By Frank Gardner\r\nPublished: 2021-10-06 · Archived: 2026-04-05 16:17:27 UTC\r\n6 October 2021\r\nFrank GardnerBBC Security Correspondent\r\nReuters\r\nSheikh Mohammed has denied any knowledge of the hacking of Princess Haya's phone\r\nThe High Court has found that the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum, interfered with British\r\njustice by ordering the hacking of the phone of his ex-wife, Princess Haya of Jordan.\r\nThe phones of her solicitors, Baroness Fiona Shackleton and Nick Manners, were also targeted during their\r\ndivorce custody case, according to the court.\r\nPrincess Haya said the discovery had made her feel \"hunted and haunted\".\r\nSheikh Mohammed denied any knowledge of the hacking.\r\nHe said the court's findings were based on evidence that was not disclosed to him, and that they were \"made in a\r\nmanner which was unfair\".\r\nThe judgments are a blow to the sheikh and a further revelation as to his treatment of female members of his\r\nfamily.\r\nhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-58814978\r\nPage 1 of 8\n\n'Serial breaches'\r\nThe High Court judgments, which were published on Wednesday afternoon, referred to the hacking as \"serial\r\nbreaches of (UK) domestic criminal law\", \"in violation of fundamental common law and ECHR rights\",\r\n\"interference with the process of this court and the mother's access to justice\" and \"abuse of power\" by a head of\r\ngovernment.\r\nThe president of the Family Division of the High Court found that \"the mobile phones of the mother (Princess\r\nHaya), two of her solicitors, her personal assistant and two members of her security staff had been the subject of\r\neither successful or attempted infiltration by surveillance software. The software used is called Pegasus software\r\nand was that of an Israeli company, the NSO Group.\"\r\nThe court concluded that the surveillance was carried out \"by servants or agents of the father (Sheikh\r\nMohammed), the Emirate of Dubai or the [United Arab Emirates] and that the surveillance occurred with the\r\nexpress or implied authority of the father\".\r\nDifficult to detect\r\nThe extent of the hack is shocking in what data it gave the hackers access to.\r\nNSO's Pegasus software, often referred to as \"spyware\", is able to track the location of the individual using the\r\nphone, read their SMS messages, emails and messages in other apps, as well as eavesdrop on their phone calls and\r\naccess their contact list, passwords, calendar dates and photographs. In other words, it gives the hacker complete\r\naccess to all the data they want to see in their target's phone.\r\nIt also allows the hacker to activate the target's phone without their knowledge, recording their activity and even\r\ntaking photographs and screenshots.\r\nhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-58814978\r\nPage 2 of 8\n\nhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-58814978\r\nPage 3 of 8\n\nSimilar spyware is alleged to have been deployed by Saudi government agents, working on the orders of the\r\nCrown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, against dissidents living abroad, including associates of the murdered\r\nSaudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.\r\nIt is extremely difficult for a victim of such spyware to even detect that their phone has been infected with\r\nPegasus.\r\n'Very substantial amount of data'\r\nIn the ongoing custody case between Sheikh Mohammed and Princess Haya at the Family Division of the High\r\nCourt, her legal team said the hacking took place with his \"express or implied authority\".\r\nThe president of the court concluded that \"in relation to the mother (Princess Haya), it is clear that the [hacking]\r\nattempt succeeded with a very substantial amount of data (265MB) being covertly extracted from her phone\".\r\nSheikh Mohammed denied any knowledge of the hacking and said he did not instruct anyone to use NSO \"or any\r\nsoftware in this way\". His legal team said he was not prepared to enter into any debate in relation to what security\r\nsystems the UAE might have.\r\nDubai princesses' phone numbers 'on Pegasus list'\r\nAre we all becoming unknowing spies?\r\nPegasus spyware seller: Blame our customers, not us\r\nThe allegations against Dubai's ruler were supported by testimony given by an expert technology witness, Dr\r\nWilliam Marczak, who is based in California and is a senior research fellow at the University of Toronto's Citizen\r\nLab, which researches digital surveillance.\r\nHe told the court he had no doubt the phones were hacked using NSO's Pegasus software. He also concluded\r\n\"with high confidence\" that the phones were hacked by a single operator in a nation state. He concluded with\r\nmedium confidence that it was most unlikely to be any state other than the UAE.\r\nAlarm raised by Cherie Blair\r\nPrincess Haya's legal team first became aware that they had been hacked after an urgent phone call made by\r\nCherie Blair QC, the wife of former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, to Baroness Shackleton. Mrs Blair acts as an\r\nadviser to NSO Group on business and human rights related issues.\r\nA senior member of NSO's management team called Mrs Blair from Israel on 5 August 2020 to inform her that \"it\r\nhad come to their attention that their software may have been misused to monitor the mobile phones of Baroness\r\nShackleton and HRH Princess Haya\".\r\nhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-58814978\r\nPage 4 of 8\n\nReuters\r\nTwo of Princess Haya's solicitors, including Baroness Fiona Shackleton, were also targeted\r\nThe NSO staff member then told Mrs Blair that those phones could no longer be accessed using NSO software\r\nand they asked for her help in contacting Baroness Shackleton.\r\nNSO, which has previously been accused by human rights groups of enabling autocratic states to carry out\r\nintrusive surveillance of dissidents and journalists, has insisted in public statements that it only supplied its\r\nspyware to enable governments to counter criminals and terrorists.\r\nNSO is believed to have terminated its contract with the UAE.\r\n'Living in fear of her life'\r\nThe hack took place during a critical phase in Sheikh Mohammed and Princess Haya's divorce custody case at the\r\nHigh Court in the summer of last year.\r\nThe guardian appointed for her children said it \"impacts crucially on the mother and her wellbeing. It is a very\r\npernicious experience if the mother has been subjected to surveillance of the type that she understands that she has\r\nbeen\".\r\nPrincess Haya's legal team told the court that \"the mother has been living in fear of her life frankly, and in fear of\r\nthe children's security since April of [2019]\".\r\nThe court also heard how Sheikh Mohammed had attempted to buy a property in Surrey, Parkwood Estate, so\r\nclose to his ex-wife's home at Castlewood, that \"if anyone chose to use it, it is in prime position for direct or\r\nelectronic surveillance\".\r\nHer legal team said \"there is a powerful objective case as to why the mother should be genuinely in fear if the\r\nfather has access to a property overbearing her own\".\r\nhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-58814978\r\nPage 5 of 8\n\nReferring to the proposed property purchase, Princess Haya told the court: \"It feels as if I am being stalked, that\r\nthere is literally nowhere for me to go to be safe from (the father), or those acting in his interests. It is hugely\r\noppressive.\"\r\nDaughters 'forcibly returned'\r\nSheikh Mohammed, a close ally of Britain's and a billionaire racehorse owner, was found by the High Court in\r\nMarch 2020 to have threatened and intimidated Princess Haya.\r\nThe court also found proven allegations that he kidnapped and forcibly returned to Dubai two of his own\r\ndaughters, Sheikha Latifa and Sheikha Shamsa.\r\nThis February, BBC Panorama obtained secretly filmed footage of Sheikha Latifa saying she was imprisoned by\r\nher father in a villa converted into a jail.\r\nVideos show Dubai's Princess Latifa in \"villa jail\"\r\nShe recounted how she had attempted to escape her family by boat in 2018 but was recaptured by armed men off\r\nthe coast of India, tranquilised and forcibly returned to Dubai.\r\nThe UN later demanded to see proof she was alive and well.\r\nPhotographs have since been posted on social media showing her accompanied by female friends in a Dubai mall,\r\nand holidaying in Madrid and Iceland.\r\nHuman rights campaigners remain suspicious that she is still not at liberty or able to speak freely.\r\nA law firm saying it is acting on her behalf has asked the media to leave her alone.\r\nDuring the recent hearings in the High Court, Princess Haya's legal team said that previous abductions were made\r\npossible by hacking, which \"enabled the identification of the whereabouts of Princess Latifa and she was then\r\nrendered back to Dubai\".\r\nHacked during 'significant events'\r\nPrincess Haya, a daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan and half-sister of King Abdullah II, fled Dubai in\r\n2019 for Britain along with her two children after learning that her husband had ordered the abduction of Sheikha\r\nLatifa and Sheikha Shamsa.\r\nShe has since said she is living in fear of her life after receiving threatening messages from agents of her former\r\nhusband.\r\nNow her legal team is accusing agents of the Emirate of Dubai of acting on his behalf in hacking the phones of\r\nPrincess Haya, her solicitors, Baroness Shackleton and Nick Manners, as well as her personal assistant and two\r\nmembers of her security staff.\r\nhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-58814978\r\nPage 6 of 8\n\nThe hacking took place in July and August 2020 \"at a time of significant events\" in the court proceedings when\r\nhearings were taking place over the welfare of the children.\r\nThe judgment concluded that \"the allegations of hacking came before the court at a time when it had already made\r\nvery serious findings against the father\".\r\n'Terrible life or death game'\r\nDuring the long-running custody case at the High Court, Sheikh Mohammed has tried on several occasions\r\nthrough appeals to keep details of the allegations against him out of the public eye. But both in March 2020 and\r\nnow, in October 2021, they have been made public, although he did not seek to appeal the most recent order\r\npermitting publication of these judgments.\r\nWednesday's ruling that, despite his denials, a sovereign ruler has interfered in the course of British justice by\r\nordering the hacking of UK phones, including of a member of the House of Lords is both shocking, embarrassing\r\nand damaging to Sheikh Mohammed's international reputation.\r\nSumming up the hacking allegations made by Princess Haya, her barrister Nicholas Cusworth QC told the court:\r\n\"It is now clear, essentially, that the mother is engaged in a terrible game, a terrible life or death game of\r\ngrandmother's footsteps in the dark. While she seeks answers about property purchases, hackers apparently get to\r\nwork interfering with her privileged communications.\"\r\nAfter the publication of the judgments Sheikh Mohammed said in a statement: \"I have always denied the\r\nallegations made against me and I continue to do so. These matters concern supposed operations of state security.\r\n\"As a head of government involved in private family proceedings, it was not appropriate for me to provide\r\nevidence on such sensitive matters either personally or via my advisers in a foreign court.\"\r\nHe added: \"Neither the Emirate of Dubai nor the UAE are party to these proceedings and they did not participate\r\nin the hearing. The findings are therefore inevitably based on an incomplete picture.\r\n\"In addition, the findings were based on evidence that was not disclosed to me or my advisers. I therefore maintain\r\nthat they were made in a manner which was unfair.\"\r\nEmbarrassing as this is for Sheikh Mohammed, there is little or no prospect of his ever having to face any police\r\nquestioning.\r\nAs Dubai's sovereign ruler, he remains a huge figure in the equestrian world, he owns extensive properties in the\r\nUK and has been photographed with the Queen at race meetings such as Ascot. The emirate of Dubai is home to\r\naround 100,000 British expatriates and both he and the wider UAE government are considered close allies of the\r\nUK.\r\nThe story is unlikely to get much coverage in the government-monitored media in the UAE, and here in London\r\nthe UAE Embassy has declined to comment on the case, saying it is a private family matter.\r\nThe sheikh himself has sovereign immunity from any future potential prosecution.\r\nhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-58814978\r\nPage 7 of 8\n\nSource: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-58814978\r\nhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-58814978\r\nPage 8 of 8",
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