The $30 million question: Zeynab's case

According to her British lawyer David Haigh, Zeynab Javadli, the ex-wife of a Dubai prince, has been 'abducted' by the emirate's police along with her three children. The incident comes after a court order was issued stating that Zeynab must 'return custody of the minors' to her ex-husband, Sheikh Saeed bin Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and that 'coercive force may be used if necessary.'

Haigh has expressed grave concern for Zeynab's safety and whereabouts, and has urged the United Nations for immediate intervention and protection.

The ex-wife of a Dubai prince has been abducted together with her three children by the emirate's police, her British lawyer has revealed. Zeynab Javadli was warned in court papers two months ago that unless she abandoned a bid for custody of her children, she risked 'coercive force.'

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In a further deeply alarming development , Zeynab's elderly mother travelled to Dubai today to support her daughter and grandchildren. she went to her daughter's house to find it locked up. She has now been told she cannot leave Dubai .

This comes after a court order was issued stating that Zeynab must 'return custody of the minors' to her ex-husband, Sheikh Saeed bin Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and that 'coercive force may be used if necessary.'

Haigh has expressed grave concern for Zeynab's safety and whereabouts , and has urged the United Nations for immediate intervention and protection .

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The Dubai authorities have not commented on the incident, but Haigh believes that Dubai Police, UAE state security, and forces acting on the orders of ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum attacked Zeynab's home in the middle of the night on Tuesday 2nd June 2026 and took her and her young children.

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.

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Zeynab had appointed leading King's Counsel Rodney Dixon to represent her before the United Nations. We will now be urgently pressing the United Nations for immediate intervention and the protection of Zeynab and her three young children.

Mr Haigh added: 'I have stood by Zeynab's side for many years. Whilst we always hoped, desperately hoped, that she would be allowed to live in peace with her children in Dubai, we also knew the day might come when she disappeared, abducted by the Dubai authorities, taken hostage like so many women in Dubai's royal family before her.'

Haigh believes that Dubai Police, UAE state security, and forces acting on the orders of ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum attacked Zeynab's home in the middle of the night on Tuesday 2nd June 2026 and took her and her young children.

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.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is pictured arriving at Royal Ascot on June 20, 2019.

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.

In April,the Daily Mail exclusively revealed that the Dubai courts had ordered police to snatch back Miss Javadli's three young daughters and deliver them to their father - her ex - Sheikh Saeed bin Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

In a heart-rending video message posted at the time 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 added: 'This is my day today. Standing, 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.'