(London) At least 37 women accuse former Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed, who died in 2023, of sexual violence, their lawyers announced on Friday, who will file a civil action against the famous department store.
“The time for justice has come,” said American lawyer Gloria Allred, part of the group of lawyers handling the case, at a news conference in London. There are victims “all over the world,” said her colleague Bruce Drummond.
This press conference comes the day after the broadcast of a BBC investigation, entitled Al-Fayed: a predator at HarrodsAround twenty women testified in this documentary, five of them accusing him of rape, committed in London or Paris, others denouncing attempted rapes and sexual assaults.
In London on Friday, lawyers for the alleged victims vowed to “obtain justice” for the 37 women they say they represent at this stage, calling on other possible victims to come forward.
Al-Fayed was “a monster”, “a monster who was able to act thanks to a system”, denounced lawyer Dean Armstrong KC.
“We are pursuing Harrods and we are focusing on Harrods at this stage as a matter of collective corporate responsibility,” he said, adding that he had evidence that the actions were a repeat pattern.
“If Harrods management feel they should compensate these women financially, […] “Of course it is something we would welcome, but we will not accept being accused of being interested only in money. It is about much more than that,” he added.
” Monster ”
Gloria Allred, an American lawyer known for defending women’s rights, stressed that “beneath the glitz and glamour” of the famous department store, there existed “a toxic, dangerous and violent environment.”
She said Al-Fayed’s actions were “consistent and repeated.” “There was a quarter of a century of sexual violence at Harrods,” she said.
She stressed that the attacks were not confined to Harrods, but also occurred at the Ritz in Paris, which the businessman also owned, as well as at his Paris residence, the Villa Windsor.
Actions known to all, the lawyers said.
Lawyer Anna Mulla spoke of the “fear” and “anguish” that gripped the many alleged victims for years.
Mohamed Al-Fayed was “intelligent and very manipulative,” one of the alleged victims, Natacha, said during the press conference. “He was a monster even if we didn’t realize it at the time.”
PHOTO YUI MOK, ASSOCIATED PRESS
One of the alleged victims, Natacha
Mohamed Al-Fayed, born on January 27, 1929 in a modest suburb of Alexandria, Egypt, spent much of his life in Britain, where he became the owner of Harrods in 1985 and of the Fulham FC football club between 1997 and 2013.
According to the BBC, he had already been accused of similar acts and the police had opened an investigation in 2015 for rape. But the father of Princess Diana’s last lover, Dodi, who died with her in a car accident in Paris on August 31, 1997, has never been charged.