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Hay Festival severs UAE ties after claims of sexual assault by Emirati minister

Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, the UAE's tolerance minister, denies the claims - AP/Kamran Jebreili
Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, the UAE's tolerance minister, denies the claims - AP/Kamran Jebreili

The Hay Festival has severed its ties with the UAE after one of its staff accused one of the kingdom’s ministers of sexually assaulting her.

Caitlin McNamara claims that Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, the UAE’s tolerance minister, assaulted her when she visited him at a private island villa, ostensibly to discuss the Hay Festival’s first event in Abu Dhabi.

The Festival’s chair, Caroline Michel, said the Hay Festival will not run any events in the UAE while Sheikh Nahyan remains in post as a Government minister.

Ms Michel described the alleged incident, if true, as "an appalling violation and a hideous abuse of trust and position".

“Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan made a mockery of his ministerial responsibilities and tragically undermined his government's attempt to work with Hay Festival to promote free speech and female empowerment,” she said.

In an interview with the Sunday Times, Ms McNamara said she had waived her legal right to anonymity as an alleged victim because she felt she had “nothing to lose” by going public.

"I want to do this because I want to highlight the effect of powerful men like him doing things like that and thinking they can get away with it,” she claimed.

The festival worker said the alleged attack happened on Valentine’s Day last year, and described it as “creepy” and “forceful”.

She claims that when she arrived at his home on a secluded private island, he invited her inside before allegedly assaulting her on a sofa and in a gold elevator.

“It really took a massive mental and physical toll on me for what to him was probably just a whim,” she said.

Ms McNamara said she had since broken up with her boyfriend, lost her job and feels she can never return to the Emirates.

Sheikh Nahyan denies the allegations. His representative at Schillings, a London libel law firm, said: “Our client is surprised and saddened by this allegation, which arrives eight months after the alleged incident and via a national newspaper. The account is denied.”

Ms McNamara has since been interviewed in connection with the alleged incident by Scotland Yard, and was put in contact with Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, a human rights lawyer.

Ms Kennedy said, if guilty, the UAE “should sack him immediately” but added: “I suspect that will not happen. His family owns the country.”

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: “On Friday, 3 July, a woman contacted the Metropolitan Police Service to report an allegation of rape in the United Arab Emirates in February 2020.

“An initial statement has been taken from the woman.”

Sheikh Nahyan’s family is one of the UAE’s six political dynasties, and has ruled Abu Dhabi since 1793.

The family is the fourth richest royal family in the world.

In 2015, Forbes estimated the Sheikh’s personal net worth to be over £1bn.

He has held several posts in the Emirati Government, including Minister of Education and Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development.

He studied at Magdalen College, Oxford, before returning to the UAE to begin a career in public life.