Saudi prince's ex-wife stripped of $17m after losing appeal

A London court overturned a ruling granting a former wife of Saudi Arabia’s Prince Fahd bin Abdulaziz al-Saud a $17m pay-out.

The appeal court said the original judgment showed serious "shortcomings" and was “unsatisfactory in a number of significant respects".  

Janan Harb, 68, is a Palestinian-born Christian who married Fahd in 1968 when he was first in line to the throne.

She claims that she was made to convert to Islam by the prince, but his family rejected her and she was forced to flee the country in 1970, when Fahd’s brother Salman, the current king, told Fahd to part with her and her family.

According to Harb, Fahd - who became king in 1982 - promised to look after her financially for life and in 2003, shortly before his death, she says she made a verbal agreement with Prince Abdul Aziz, the son of another wife of the king, who promised to give her $17m and ownership of two luxury London properties.

In return, Harb was supposed to withdraw an affidavit stating that Fahd was a frequent drug user and had pressured her to have several abortions. Aziz denies making any deal with her.

Earlier this year, Harb sold the rights to her extraordinary story to media relations consultant Damien McCrystal, who said partial funding had been secured to make a film that will provide a unique insight into the inner workings of Saudi Arabia’s famously secretive royal family.

“The judgment of the Court of Appeal has re-affirmed the confidence of the prince in the fair and independent resolution of disputes before the English Courts," the lawyers for Prince Abdul Aziz said in an e-mailed statement.

He is not in the line of succession.