Entertainment

Dubai ruler hacked ex-wife using NSO Pegasus spyware, high court judge finds

The ruler of Dubai hacked the phone of his ex-wife Princess Haya using NSO Group’s controversial Pegasus spyware in an unlawful abuse of power and trust, a senior high court judge has ruled.

The president of the family division found that agents acting on behalf of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who is also prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, a close Gulf ally of Britain, hacked Haya and five of her associates while the couple were locked in court proceedings in London concerning the welfare of their two children.

Those hacked included two of Haya’s lawyers, one of whom, Fiona Shackleton, sits in the House of Lords and was tipped off about the hacking by Cherie Blair, who works with the Israeli NSO Group.

In July, a Guardian investigation revealed for the first time that Haya and her associates were on a dataset believed to indicate people of interest to a government client of NSO, thought to be Dubai.

Sir Andrew McFarlane’s damning judgment from 5 May, only now published, appears to confirm that finding – which was part of the Pegasus project investigation – and goes further in saying that unlawful surveillance was actually carried out.

Haya’s phone was found to have been hacked 11 times in July and August last year with Sheikh Mohammed’s “express or implied authority”.

The Met police said it was informed of the alleged hacking last year and detectives carried out “significant inquiries” over the course of five months but the investigation was closed in February due to “no further investigative opportunities”.

Although McFarlane’s findings were on the lower civil standard of proof, which requires a conclusion on the balance of probabilities rather than the criminal standard of beyond reasonable doubt, a Met police spokesperson said: “We will of course review any new information or evidence which comes to light in connection with these allegations.”

In another judgment by McFarlane, one of 11 rulings to which news organisations were granted access on Wednesday, it was revealed that agents working on behalf of the sheikh had attempted to buy a £30m estate next door to Haya’s Berkshire home. In response, the judge created a 100-metre exclusion zone around her property and a 1,000ft no-fly zone above it to protect her from the sheikh and his agents.

In his phone-hacking judgment, McFarlane criticised Sheikh Mohammed in the strongest terms.

“The findings represent a total abuse of trust, and indeed an abuse of power, to a significant extent,” he said. “I wish to make it plain that I regard the findings that I have now made to be of the utmost seriousness in the context of the children’s welfare. They may well have a profound impact upon the ability of the mother and of the court to trust him with any but the most minimal and secure arrangements for contact with his children in the future.”

On one occasion, according to the judgment, when Haya’s phone was hacked, 265 megabytes of data was uploaded, equivalent to about 24 hours of digital voice recording data or 500 photographs. It occurred during a period described by McFarlane as “a particularly busy and financially interesting time in these proceedings, with the buildup to key hearings relating to the mother’s long-term financial claims for herself and the children”.

In a witness statement, the sheikh, who has not appeared in court throughout the proceedings – unlike his ex-wife who was a regular attendee – argued that “it is hard to see how the hacking allegations make a substantial difference” to his contact with his children, but this was dismissed out of hand by McFarlane.

The latest judgments will increase scrutiny on Britain’s relationship with the UAE, coming after a December 2019 ruling by McFarlane that found the sheikh orchestrated the abductions of two of his other children, Princess Latifa and Princess Shamsa – in the latter case from the streets of Cambridge – and subjected Haya to a campaign of “intimidation”.

McFarlane used the opportunity of the phone-hacking ruling to criticise the sheikh’s claim after the December 2019 judgment in which the Dubai ruler said: “As head of government I was not able to participate in the court’s fact-finding process.” McFarlane stated this was untrue as the sheikh had submitted two witness statements to that trial and had had a large legal team that he had instructed to withdraw from the courtroom rather than participate.

Sheikh Mohammed’s expensively assembled legal team had attempted to prevent McFarlane ruling on the phone hacking by claiming that the court had no jurisdiction to sit in judgment on a foreign act of state, namely the alleged use of spyware by the UAE and/or Dubai. However, in separate hearings this was rejected by the high court and court of appeal, with the supreme court refusing to allow a further appeal.

Haya fled to London in April 2019 with the couple’s two young children, triggering a still ongoing legal battle over custody, access and financial support.

In a witness statement supporting her application for the exclusion zone around her Castlewood House home, previously occupied by Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, Haya said: “It feels as if I am being stalked, that there is literally nowhere for me to go to be safe from [her ex-husband], or those acting in his interests. It is hugely oppressive … I feel like I cannot breathe any more; it feels like being suffocated. I don’t want the children to live with the kind of fear that punctuates my existence at all times. They do not deserve this.”

On 9 December last year, granting her request, McFarlane said that in the abduction of his two adult daughters, the sheikh had demonstrated “his ability to act and to do so irrespective of domestic criminal law”, explicitly referencing the fact that Shamsa was taken from Cambridge to Dubai by helicopter. “The mother is justified in regarding the purchase of a substantial estate immediately abutting her own as being a very significant threat to her security, both in terms of providing an opportunity for 24-hour close surveillance and as a close-to-hand transport hub for a helicopter,” the judge said.

After the findings were published, Sheikh Mohammed issued a statement in which he continued to deny the allegations relating to hacking.

“These matters concern supposed operations of state security. As a head of government involved in private family proceedings, it was not appropriate for me to provide evidence on such sensitive matters… Neither the Emirate of Dubai nor the UAE are party to these proceedings and they did not participate in the hearing. The findings are therefore inevitably based on an incomplete picture.”

Entertainment

OAP Do2dtun calls out popular radio station over 8 months unpaid salaries

Popular On-Air Personality (OAP) Do2dtun has called out Soundcity Radio for allegedly owing its staff eight months of unpaid salaries.

Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, the media personality criticized the station’s management, describing their actions as “cruel and inhumane.”

In a series of tweets, Do2dtun expressed his frustration, stating that operating a radio station should not come at the expense of employees’ welfare.

“It’s not by force to open a radio station. Owing your staff for 8 months is very cruel and inhumane. You don’t need a soothsayer to tell you this,” he wrote.

Revealing the station’s name in another tweet, he sympathized with his colleagues and friends at Soundcity, questioning how they have managed to cope under such conditions.

“My friends and colleagues at Soundcity, how do you guys cope? No salary for 8 months? Mehn that’s crãzy!!!!”

The allegations stirred an outcry on social media, with many users sharing their thoughts on the situation.

Entertainment

Speed Darlington drags IGP Egbetokun to court, demands N300m damages

Speed Darlington (Darlington Achakpo), a detained Nigerian singer, has taken the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to court for alleged unlawful detention.

He filed the lawsuit at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The court has fixed January 13 for the hearing of the fundamental rights enforcement suit.

Justice Musa Liman fixed the date after counsel for the singer, Abubakar Marshal, sought an adjournment to enable the I-G’s lawyer, Garba Audu, study and to respond accordingly to the processes served on him in the open court.

Justice Liman had, on Dec. 23, 2024, ordered the I-G to charge Speed Darlington to court or release him on bail unconditionally within 48 hours.

The judge made the order in a ruling on an ex-parte motion moved by lawyer who appeared for Darlington, David Ihuoma, and adjourned the matter until Jan. 6 for the hearing of the substantive case .

Speed Darlington, 39, was allegedly arrested by the police over allegations of “defamation and cyberstalking” of the ace award-winning artiste, Damini Ogulu, aka Burna Boy but was released on bail on Oct. 8, 2024.

A lawyer and human right activist, Deji Adeyanju alleged that Speed Darlington was apprehended in Lagos State following a petition by Burna Boy, and was moved to Abuja where he had been in detention.

Upon resumed hearing in the matter on Monday, Marshal informed the court that the matter was scheduled for hearing of the originating motion on notice for the enforcement of Achakpo’s fundamental rights.

Although Audu said he was yet to be served with the process, the court however confirmed through the proof of service in the court record that the police were duly served.

The judge thereafter directed Marshal to avail Audu with a copy of the application in the open court.

Justice Liman then asked Marshal if the singer had been released but the lawyer responded in the negative.

Responding, Audu explained to the court that the I-G had already filed a criminal charge against Speed Darlington before the singer filed the motion ex-parte for his release.

He said the singer was admitted to administrative bail but allegedly jumped the bail.

The police lawyer said that the charge, which was filed before Justice Ekerete Akpan of Court 13, came up earlier in December 2024, but could not be heard.

He said an application was also written to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court for the reassignment of the criminal matter to a vacation judge so that the defendant can be arraigned but all to no avail.

He explained that the criminal matter was now fixed for Jan. 15 for Speed Darlington’s arraignment before Justice Akpan.

The lawyer further explained that contrary to insinuation, the police did not flout the order of the court as it would have been difficult to arraign the defendant at the time the order was made going by the Christmas holiday.

Marshal, therefore, prayed the court to direct the police to release the singer to him pending when he would be arraigned.

“We shall be applying pending the trial and arraignment of the applicant that your lordship make an order admitting him to bail.
“If my lord will, as ministers in the temple of justice, we will ensure his presence in court on the day of arraignment,” he said, but Audu opposed the application.

Justice Liman, who agreed that the police were not in deliberate disobedience to the court order, advised Audu to ensure Speed Darlington is released to Marshal, having undertook to produce him in court.

“I don’t see anything the police will lose if granted bail,” the judge advised.

He subsequently adjourned the matter until Jan. 13 for hearing of the substantive matter.

In the fundamental right suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1832/2024, Speed Darlington sued I-G as sole respondent.

The artiste, who urged the court to declare that his arrest and detention violated his fundamental rights as guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution, sought four orders.

In the suit filed by Adeyanju, he sought an order directing the I-G to immediately and unconditionally release him from detention facility where he is being kept.

Alternatively, he sought an order mandating and compelling the I-G to produce him before the court to enable the court inquire into the circumstances constituting grounds of his arrest and detention and where it deems fit, admits him to bail.

He also sought “an order directing the respondent to pay the applicant the sum of N300,000,000.00 (Three Hundred Million Naira) only as general, exemplary and aggravating damages for their unlawful and continued detention since the 2024 till date.”

In the affidavit deposed to by Esther Eyisi, a secretary in the law firm, she alleged that Speed Darlington was first arrested on Oct. 4, 2024 for allegedly defaming Burna Boy.

She said he was illegally detained for five days and subjected to severe torture and maltreatment without being formally charged to a court of competent jurisdiction.

Eyisi averred that the artiste was eventually granted bail by the police after spending five days under inhumane conditions.

According to her, on Nov. 27, 2024, the applicant was arrested and detained by officers of respondent on the grounds that he allegedly jumped administrative bail.

This, she said, is in spite of notification from her client about his medical emergency and his inability to report on the scheduled date and obtaining the permission of the officers of the respondent to travel to Owerri, Imo for a performance.

She said the continuous detention of Speed Darlington without arraignment contravened his constitutional rights, describing him as the “breadwinner in his family.”

Entertainment

Nigeria Nathaniel Bassey to minister at Trump’s inaugural prayer breakfast in US

A Nigerian gospel singer and pastor, Nathaniel Bassey, has been invited to minister at the Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on January 20 in Washington, D.C.

The Akwa Ibom-born cleric disclosed this on his Instagram page, sharing a poster of the event.

He wrote: “Let’s raise a sound in America. See you on January 20, 2025.”

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the U.S. prayer breakfast is a non-political and faith-based event that emphasises prayer and worship as a spiritual support for the U.S. government and presidency.

The event is held once in four years preceding every new administration, and this edition is scheduled to be held ahead of Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance’s swearing-in ceremony.

The prayer breakfast will be hosted by Reverend Merrie Turner at the prestigious Waldorf Astoria Presidential Ballroom, featuring a distinguished lineup of speakers, including Dr Alveda King and Pastor Mario Bramnick.

Bassey, an acclaimed trumpeter and convener of the Hallelujah Challenge, an online Christian worship movement, is known for his hit songs, including “Imela”, “Onise Iyanu”, and “Olowogbogboro.”