In the courtroom of the judges who helped build the UAE’s legal system

As Saleh Farah’s flight approached Abu Dhabi, he looked down to see a village dotted with huts and Bedouin-style tents along the coastline.

It looked no different from the environment in his native Sudan, and was in stark contrast to the Abu Dhabi that Farah faced today (55 years later).

He will play a vital role in the formation of the UAE in the years and decades to come. He worked closely with Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding father of the UAE, and forged ties with the country that has become his home.

he sat down with National Memories of his extraordinary life and experiences.

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Mr. Farah, now in his 90s, a law graduate and one of the first Sudanese to be called to British pubs in London, worked his early years as a civil servant in the Khartoum government.

He resigned in 1966 after a dispute with the establishment of his bureaucracy. The British embassy in Khartoum offered him a position as one of Rashij’s protectorates, north of Aden, in South Yemen, which was still part of the British Empire at the time. However, he foresaw unrest and rejected it.

It was a newspaper ad by the Sudanese Ministry of Labour that prompted his life-changing move.

Sheikh Zayed has big plans for Abu Dhabi after discovering oil and is looking for talent from overseas to help realize his vision.

Mr. Farah interviewed in Sudan for the post of Chief Judge of Abu Dhabi and was offered the job in November 1966. He was then told he would take on a dual role: Sheikh Zayed’s legal adviser and justice minister.

Life in Abu Dhabi

Traveling to and from Abu Dhabi is a long one. Mr Farah first flew from Khartoum to Beirut, where he stayed for a few hours before boarding a British Overseas Airways flight to Bahrain, where he stayed overnight. The next morning, his last stop in Abu Dhabi was on a Gulf carrier Fokker Air, which seldom flies regularly to the emirate.

They landed in an area near what is now Mulu Road, near the junction with 17th Street, within what is today the Abu Dhabi Media Centre. It was the only place where the survey team was able to find 1,000 meters of ground enough to support the weight of the aircraft.

He only brought basic toiletries, some clothes, his Quran and preparations to work.

Sheikh Zayed was in Pakistan at the time, so his older brother Sheikh Khalid was in charge in his absence.

Mr. Farah was taken to Qasr Al Hosn to meet him and then placed in a hotel – the hotel at Al Mariah Cinema now on Al Nadja Street.

A few weeks later, his first meeting with the ruler came. But this time, Mr Farah got his own car but was delayed almost immediately due to difficult driving conditions on the sandy road.

He flew to Dubai to meet Sheikh Zayed, who had returned from a private visit abroad, and accompanied him on the 20-minute return flight back to Abu Dhabi.

“He greeted me very warmly with a handshake and asked how I was doing,” Mr Farrah told National. “He only had a few minutes with everyone on the plane, and while it was a brief introduction, I started spending most of the day with him.”

About two months into his new post, he accompanied Sheikh Zayed to meet King Faisal of Saudi Arabia to discuss the land border.

He also accompanied the ruler on trips to Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Britain and Spain, but two trips to Iran to meet the shah are most prominent in his memory.

As Abu Dhabi remained a British protectorate, Mr Farah worked closely with British agents.

“I found that British agents treated me with respect,” he said. “I’m not just a solicitor, I’m a barrister, and membership in the English Court Hotel is a huge asset.”

However, this is not always a smooth relationship. In 1968, a letter from Archie Lamb, the British political agency in Abu Dhabi, said Farah “appeared to be happy to obstruct.”

Mr Farah said: “It could be a hindrance to the law that the British want and it is not suitable for the region.”

new legal system

When Mr Farah arrived in Abu Dhabi, the British had been using their own legislation for almost 20 years. As a judge and director of the justice department, he was tasked with building a full-fledged legal department.

This requires the creation of a judicial system of three to four judges of appeal courts, excluding preliminary judge rulings in any particular case. The system still exists today, albeit greatly expanded to accommodate the country’s growing needs.

“I arrived without written legislation, but there was customs, so what we’re trying to do is add laws to those areas,” Mr Farah said.

One hurdle for the legal development team was that anything about Abu Dhabi was dealt with by British courts, while protectorate law was dealt with by a British judge who regularly traveled from Bahrain to what was then known as the Gulf Truce. At some point, the UK handed over the jurisdiction of all countries to Abu Dhabi, with the exception of Europeans, Americans and Commonwealth members.

“To win jurisdiction over the general population, we must ensure that the UK agrees to the laws we propose, which will also apply to groups previously exempted by the UK under the Gulf Armistice Agreement,” Mr Farah said.

In presenting the new law to Sheikh Zayed, Mr Farah asked a British agent to accept it. The judge’s uncompromising stance on Abu Dhabi and “stubbornness” is recorded in the UK file.

Mr. Farah is with Sheikh Zayed almost every day. He said the ruler would start his day at 7am, then would take a break for lunch, when Mr Farah would go home. He would return to Sheikh Zayed at 4pm and stay until around midnight, sometimes leaving at 3am or 4am.

“Despite staying up so late and getting very little sleep, I never felt tired because it was a completely different life than working in an office in Khartoum,” Mr Farah said. “After they asked Sudan to appoint a judge, I thought I would appear in court to hear the case, but I was mostly making laws for the country. After all, not many crimes were committed.”

dating in the desert

In January 1968, a year after Mr Farah arrived in Abu Dhabi, it was announced that the British would withdraw from the area.

The steps of close coordination between Abu Dhabi and Dubai began immediately. On January 10, 1968, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, then ruler of Dubai, received Sheikh Zayed and his advisers to explore the possibility of a merger, And find a common policy that ties the states together.

Then came a momentous moment in calendar history on February 18, when Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid met again. This time, it’s a campsite in the desert of Seih Al Sedira, a hill on the Abu Dhabi side of the border, near the community of Al Sameeh.

Two tents were set up – one for hospitality and the other for private meetings.

“I was one of the few people present…I didn’t know in advance what was going to happen at this meeting, there was no indication,” Mr Farah said.

“They were talking in a tent and then came out and asked us to draw up a statement saying they had agreed to form a coalition inviting the other five states, as well as Qatar and Bahrain.”

A letter from Gulf political resident Stuart Crawford pointed to the drafting session, which included Mr Farah as legal adviser to the ruler.

This signing is known as the Alliance Agreement. It includes a unified flag, a unified currency, a unified federal defense, internal security, and foreign policy, as well as a common immigration, education, and health care system.

Mr Farah represented Abu Dhabi on a liaison committee that aims to coordinate links between the UAE. He is the emirate’s expert responsible for drafting the constitution.

The constitution is a complicated process, and Mr Farah once again found himself at odds with the Qataris, who will be part of the team at this time.

A frosty relationship between Mr Farah and Qatar’s legal adviser, Dr Hassan Kamel, ensued and is recorded in the Arabian Gulf Digital Archives in correspondence with British agent Mr Lamb.

At one point, the emir of Qatar referred to Farah as a foreigner when speaking to Sheikh Zayed. Mr Farah said Sheikh Zayed retorted: “He belongs to Abu Dhabi not Khartoum. He is not a Sudanese but a member of the ruling family.”

The meeting eventually discussed a draft constitution, which was later adopted.Mr Farah and Adi Bitar in Dubai was given the task of drafting a joint statement for the unions.

Finally, after 47 months of discussions, the UAE was born.

New era, new passport

Mr Farah flew to Abu Dhabi on a Sudanese passport and then travelled with Sheikh Zayed to obtain an Abu Dhabi passport, one of the few at the time who, as part of a special decree, Naturalized to serve Sudan. nation. It was an honor he never left.

After Sheikh Zayed’s Ministry of Justice moved to the federal government, Mr Farah was appointed as the president’s legal adviser and has an office in the presidential palace.

After continuing in this role in the 1980s, he retired in 1991 at the age of 60. He remains in Abu Dhabi and is now a father of 10, grandfather of 16 and great-grandfather of 3.

“Having been serving Sheikh Zayed, I don’t think I can stay in law after leaving Abu Dhabi,” Mr Farah said.

“I chose to retire back to my house where I could visit people and they could visit me. There are job opportunities, but for the same reason they are hard to accept. As Sheikh Zayed’s legal advisor, They think they’ll have someone important, but that’s not for me.”

Today, he marvels at the changes that have taken place in Abu Dhabi. While not forgetting his homeland, he is proud of his involvement in the building of the country and the progress Sheikh Zayed has made.

“We are fortunate to have fulfilled Sheikh Zayed’s dream for his people, which the late Sheikh Khalifa continued to fulfill, and the current Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed continues to carry the torch admirably,” Farah said. Mr He said.

Updated: September 30, 2022 at 6:00 pm