Dubai royal dispute escalates as ex‑wife disappears

A British human rights lawyer says the former wife of a nephew of the ruler of Dubai has gone missing. Contact with Zeynab Javadli was lost on Tuesday and her home in Dubai is locked and empty.

Javadli, a former international gymnast, has repeatedly expressed concern for her safety and has been embroiled in a bitter custody battle with her ex-husband, Sheikh Saeed bin Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

The BBC has reached out to officials in the UAE for comment but has received no response as of yet.

Friends of Javadli raised the alarm when their phone calls and messages received no reply on Tuesday. The British lawyer and activist David Haigh said he last spoke to Javadli on Tuesday night. Since that moment, she has “vanished”. Neither she nor her three young daughters have been seen or heard from since.

No official has provided a clear explanation of what might have happened to her. Javadli’s mother, who had just arrived in Dubai for a visit, found the house empty with changed locks. She is understood to have been in touch with Dubai police and the Azerbaijani consulate – the country Javadli is from.

For months, Javadli had barely left the house as she believed security officers were waiting to take her children from her and possibly put her under arrest. Last year, her ex‑husband lodged a complaint with the police accusing her of kidnapping their daughters, a development in their escalating custody dispute. Both parents had previously accused each other of kidnapping as custody of the children changed hands between them.

Javadli has also faced potential arrest for e‑crimes in the UAE after she livestreamed a show‑down in 2022. “I knew that it was the last chance to be with my children as they would never let me see them again,” she told Haigh in a video message. “I genuinely believed that it was my last chance, so I just opened a livestream and called for help.”

Lawyers representing Sheikh Saeed’s side have argued in court that Javadli was an unfit mother who failed to send her daughters to school and was living in a hotel that was unsuitable for children. They claim she jeopardised the youngest girl’s health. Javadli rejected these accusations and her Emirati legal team submitted evidence to the contrary.

Haigh says the current situation bears a “deeply troubling resemblance” to the 2015–2016 case of Princess Latifa, daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who sought freedom in 2018 and was returned to Dubai after her escape attempt was intercepted in the Indian Ocean.

Haigh, who campaigned for Princess Latifa, has issued an urgent call for the international community to demand confirmation of Javadli's whereabouts and welfare.

For further reading: Ex‑wife of Dubai royal says she fears arrest as custody battle escalates.