World Bulletin / News Desk

A Christian wife of the late King Fahd of Saudi Arabia has decided to pursue her rights to certain properties promised to her by her husband before he passed away.

Janan Harb, 65, who married King Fahd in 1968 when she was 19 while he was still a prince and interior minister. However, Harb claimed that she was forced to leave Saudi Arabia when Fahd ascended to the throne in 1982 because the family did not approve of the marriage.

Two years before King Fahd died in 2003, she said she was promised by King Fahd's heir Abdulaziz that she would be given $20 million and two estates in London in honor of his father's promise to provide for her, but this was not fulfilled.

Janan Harb, a Palestinian-born British citizen, won her appeal to the High Court in London on Monday to proceed with her claim on the properties. “After 12 years of persistence I am very happy and relieved. If the prince is going to appeal, I am going to accept the offer of the movie of the book I have written – I am going to spill the beans,” she told reporters after the ruling.

Abdulaziz, who is now the new King of Saudi Arabia after his father died, did not attend the hearing but had declared having “state immunity” from the British legal system, the Independent reported. The judge, however, ruled that his immunity had ended after King Fahd died.

Her solicitor, Mandeep Kaur Virdee of Neumans LLP, said: “We are delighted with the outcome of this judgment. The law surrounding this area has already established, confirming that personal immunity ceases when a head of state is no longer in office for any reason.”