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In Letter from Tihar, Christian Michel Asks UK PM to Sanction Modi for UAE Princess’s Abduction
The UK national, who has spent three years in jail awaiting trial in the AgustaWestland case, says the Modi government helped the UAE abduct Princess Latifa in 2018 so that it could get him in exchange.
The British national Christian James Michel, accused in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal and now into his third year as an undertrial prisoner, has threatened to go on an indefinite hunger strike in Delhi’s Tihar jail from today, November 25, if charges of human rights violations are not brought against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In a nine-page handwritten letter to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson dated October 5 but made public only now, Michel has accused Modi of being responsible for the abduction of Princess Latifa in 2018 following an attack on the yacht she was travelling in on the high seas by Indian special forces. Michel has claimed that he was handed over to India by the United Arab Emirates’ authorities in exchange for Latifa, the estranged and runaway daughter of the ruler of Dubai.
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French Captain to File Suit Over 2018 Capture of Dubai Princess, Case to ‘Also be Against India’
Narendra Modi is accused of authorizing Indian navy commandos to capture Princess Latifa on the high seas after speaking to Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed.
Herve Jaubert is a former French naval intelligence officer who captained the US-registered yacht, Nostromo, on which Princess Latifa, daughter of Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed, was attempting to escape from her father’s clutches in February-March 2018. A London high court judgment in December 2019 ruled that she was thwarted by Indian armed forces in international waters in the Arabian Sea at Mohammed’s instigation.
“The description of the way in which Latifa was treated by the Indian security services and also, once the Arabic man [her father’s agent] had identified her, does not give any indication that this was a ‘rescue’ [Mohammed’s argument] rather than a ‘capture’,” was the court’s verdict.
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2018 ‘covert’ op that is embarrassing India
It is not anybody’s case that Princess Latifa was wanted for any crime in her home country and that we had only cooperated for rendering her to justice in the UAE. Our ‘unprecedented operation’, as per the daily, had involved ‘three Coast Guard ships, helicopters and a maritime surveillance aircraft’ to locate ‘a US-flagged yacht’ carrying the Princess and her friends. On April 27, 2018, a leading Indian business paper, quoting “highly placed government sources”, said that a secret Coast Guard operation was authorised at the highest level to intercept an unarmed yacht carrying “runaway” Dubai royal princess Latifa Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum. This was after key national security officials felt it necessary to “secure India’s counter-terrorism and strategic interests.” However, new revelations in the form of secret videos released on February 16, 2021, would embarrass us further as this was apparently done without following the legal procedure. If true, this was an unprecedented action as no such forcible “rendition”, as the Americans call it, was allowed by India in its history. I know personally that Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi did not oblige even his personal friend, Afghan President Mohammad Najibullah, when he requested, through secret intelligence channels, the rendition of his key aide who had deceived him and escaped to the West through India with large sums of money. That was at a time when Najibullah was helping India through a number of sensitive operations to frustrate Pakistan’s covert war against us.
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Christian Michel’s Claims of Coercion, Torture Could Spark Fresh Diplomatic Challenges for India
A 35-page letter written by VVIP chopper scam accused Christian Michel to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson about his alleged mistreatment in Tihar Jail could prove to be embarrassing for the Narendra Modi government and potentially also affect the extradition of fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya to India. Michel, 56, is charged for his alleged role as a middleman in the AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal. He has been in Tihar Jail for 25 months and claims he was snatched illegally from Dubai in an “unlawful handover to the Indian authorities by the UAE as part of a quid pro quo for the return of (the daughter of Dubai’s ruler and the UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum) Sheikha Latifa (by Indian coastguards)”.
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UN to call for release of British businessman held in Indian jail over £500m helicopter deal
Christian Michel alleges he was tortured in a notorious prison after refusing to sign a fake confession. The United Nations is to demand the release of a British businessman held without conviction in an Indian jail for two years over his role in a £500 million helicopter deal. Christian Michel, 59, alleges he was tortured after refusing to sign a fake confession that he bribed Indian officials in order to secure the helicopter deal for the Anglo-Italian firm AugustaWestland for which he was acting as a consultant. He has been held in the notorious Tihar jail in Delhi alongside murderers, rapists and terrorists since being extradited to India in December 2018 from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where he was working.
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Agusta accused Michel’s family takes his case to UN, alleges torture and arbitrary detention in India
The barristers’ chambers representing AgustaWestland helicopter scam accused Christian Michel’s family has filed a petition of complaint with the United Nations requesting an investigation into the detention and “ongoing ill-treatment” of the 57-year-old, claiming the charges against him are politically motivated, the detention is “arbitrary”, that he is being tortured and should be exonerated and released.
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AgustaWestland scam: Christian Michel detained to return India’s favour?
Radha Stirling, the CEO of Detained in Dubai, who is representing the princess, has alleged that Michel’s detention was a favour returned for the help extended by India in locating and returning the princess to her country.
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UN Body Seeks India’s Response to Charge of Complicity in Abduction of Dubai Princess
The princess was sent back to the UAE after the yacht she was traveling in was allegedly forcibly boarded by the Indian Coast Guard in international waters.
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Narendra Modi signed off ‘capture’ of Dubai princess Sheikha Latifa
The Indian prime minister authorised an operation to seize and repatriate a Dubai princess who had fled the Gulf, alleging torture by the ruling family, it has been claimed.
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India Returned Runaway Dubai Princess to Protect Strategic Interests
India located the US-flagged yacht, Nostromo, some 50 km off the coast of Goa. Prime Minister Narendra Modi authorised a secret Coast Guard operation to intercept a yacht carrying runaway Dubai royal Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum after key national security officials advised it was necessary to secure India’s counter-terrorism and strategic interests, highly placed government sources have told Business Standard.