She Arrived in Dubai for a Competition and Vanished — The Way She Was Found Shocked Even the Police!

She Arrived in Dubai for a Competition and Vanished — The Way She Was Found Shocked Even the Police!

PART1

A nineteen-year-old student from Kazan came to Dubai for an intellectual competition, and five weeks later she was found in a glass aquarium, with no skin on her legs and her eyes gouged out. What happened to Sabina Rakhimova remains a mystery that the authorities of the United Arab Emirates prefer not to reveal.

  It all started in the spring of 2023, when Sabina Rakhimova received an email at her university email address.  The girl was a fourth-year student at the Faculty of International Relations at Kazan Federal University and was planning a career as a diplomat.  The letter came from an organization called Future Muslim Women International Educational Project, which was supposedly looking for talented young women from Islamic countries to participate in a conference in Dubai.

  The sender introduced himself as the project coordinator, Amir Hasan, and stated that Sabina had been pre-selected based on her academic achievements and an essay on the role of women in the modern Islamic world that she had published in a student magazine. The letter contained an invitation to a three-day conference with all expenses paid, including airfare, accommodation in a five-star hotel, and per diem.

The event was to be held under the patronage of Sheikh Talal Al Nahyan, a member of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi.  Sabina was delighted.  During her 3 years of study, she established herself as one of the best students in the course.  She was fluent in English and Arabic and actively participated in Model United Nations Conferences.

The opportunity to take part in an international event of this level seemed like an incredible stroke of luck to her and an important step for her future career. Sabina’s parents, Rashid and Aliya Rakhimov, were somewhat apprehensive about the trip .  My father worked as an engineer at a chemical plant in Nizhnekamsk.

  Mother taught Tatar language at school. The family lived modestly, and such opportunities seemed too good to be true. Rashid even offered to go with his daughter, but the organizers explained that the program was strictly for individual participation. Sabina spent two weeks preparing a presentation on the prospects for female education in Central Asia.

She studied the biographies of other participants whose names were listed on the project’s website: girls from Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and other countries of the Islamic world.  All appeared to be educated and ambitious young women between the ages of 18 and 25.

  A week before departure, Amir Hasan sent Sabina a detailed program of the event.  The first day included registration of participants and an evening reception at the Opus Hotel in Business Bay, one of the most prestigious areas of Dubai.  The second day was devoted to panel discussions on the topics of women’s leadership in Islam, entrepreneurship, and social initiatives.

  The third day included a cultural program and the closing of the conference with the presentation of certificates.   On June 8, 2023, Sabina flew from Kazan to Dubai via Moscow. On the plane, she took several selfies and posted them on social media with the caption that she was flying to an international conference and was very nervous.

Her last Instagram post was taken at Dubai Airport.  A photo of the arrivals hall with an emoji of the United Arab Emirates flag and a heart. At the airport, she was met by a driver holding a sign with her name written in Latin letters. The man introduced himself as Ahmed and said he would take her to the hotel.

  On the way, he explained that the rest of the participants had already arrived and that everyone would meet for breakfast tomorrow morning to get acquainted and receive the program of events.   The Opuus Hotel was truly impressive.   The unusually shaped building, designed by renowned architect Zaha Haditt, was located in the heart of the Business District.

  Sabina’s room was on the twenty-second floor with a panoramic view of Dubai’s skyscrapers.  The girl was amazed by the luxury of the interior and immediately filmed a video for her subscribers, saying that she had never lived in such conditions.  That evening, Sabina went down to the hotel restaurant where the welcome dinner was to take place.

In the lobby, she was met by a middle-aged woman in a formal business suit who introduced herself as Fatima Al-Zagra, the project coordinator.  She explained that the other participants had already gathered in a private room and that Sabina was a little late due to a flight delay.  Fatima led Sabina into the elevator, which went up to the thirty-eighth floor, where the hotel’s VIP lounges were located.

  In a spacious room with huge windows and a view of the city, about fifty young women were sitting.  Everyone was dressed in elegant but conservative outfits. Most wore hijabs of various colors.  The atmosphere seemed friendly and relaxed. Sabina was introduced to the other participants.

  Among them was Aisha from Pakistan, who was studying international law.  Nur is from Indonesia with a degree in economics, and Leila is from Morocco, specializing in Islamic philosophy. All the girls spoke good English and gave the impression of being educated and goal-oriented young women.  The dinner took place in a relaxed atmosphere.

The participants discussed their projects, shared plans for the future, and talked about their countries.  Sabina felt a little constrained by the language barrier.  Her English was good for academic purposes, but in informal settings she sometimes struggled with her words.  However, the other girls were friendly and patient.

Around 10:00 pm, Fatima announced that the program would start early tomorrow, so everyone should get a good rest.  She handed out bags containing conference materials to participants , including schedules, maps of Dubai, and souvenirs with the project logo. Sabina returned to her room in high spirits and sent her parents a message saying that everything was going well and that the other participants were very interesting.

On the morning of June 9, Sabina woke up early and immediately checked her schedule.   The first session was scheduled to start at 10 a.m. in the hotel conference room.  The theme was stated as female leadership in the modern Islamic world.  Sabina prepared meticulously, memorizing the key points of her presentation on the situation with female education in Tatarstan and Central Asia.

  However, when she went down to breakfast, none of the participants she had met the day before were in the restaurant.  At the reception they explained to her that the program had been changed at the last minute and that the new schedule would be brought to her room. Sabina felt uneasy, but decided that such changes in the programs of international events were commonplace .

  Around noon there was a knock on her room door.  Standing outside the door were two men in suits who introduced themselves as hotel security officers. They explained that there had been a security incident at the hotel and that all guests were being asked to temporarily hand over their mobile phones and laptops for inspection. The men were polite but persistent, and Sabina, not wanting to cause problems, gave them her devices.

After this, communication with the outside world was interrupted. Sabina’s parents began to worry the very next day when their daughter did not respond to their message.  Rashid Rakhimov tried to call the hotel, but they told him that there was no guest registered with that name . When he gave the room number that Sabina had mentioned in their last conversation, he was told that the room was occupied by another guest.

PART2

  The concerned family contacted the Kazan police, but they explained that the girl was abroad of her own free will and that they could only begin searching for her in a few days.  Rashid Rakhimov contacted the consular section of the Russian embassy in Abu Dhaba, but they were also unable to find any trace of Sabina’s presence in the country.

  Meanwhile, the conference organizers continued to assure all concerned relatives of the participants that the girls were on a special retreat without access to the internet or telephone service. Amir Hasan explained in an email that this was part of a spiritual development program personally designed by Sheikh Talal, and that the participants would return to normal in a few weeks.

  This explanation might have reassured the parents, if not for one detail.  On June 14, six days after her daughter’s disappearance, Aliya Rakhimova received a short message from Sabina’s number.   It contained only a few words in the Tatar language.  Anne Minayahshi, Kaytu, mom, I’m fine, I’ll be back. The message arrived at 4:00 a.m. Moscow time, which corresponded to 5 a.m. in Dubai.

  The mother immediately realized that the message was not written by her daughter.  Sabina never wrote messages to her parents in Tatar .  In the family, everyone spoke Russian, and Tatar was used only in conversation. Moreover, the girl always called her mother ” mama” rather than “Anna,” a more formal form of address that she would only use with older strangers.

Rashid Rakhimov immediately passed this message on to the Russian consulate, insisting that his daughter was in danger. The consul promised to contact local authorities with an official request regarding the whereabouts of the Russian citizen. However, Dubai police responded that they had no information about Sabina Rakhimova’s presence in the Emirates.

Days passed, and no information was received about the girl’s fate.  The parents turned to journalists on social networks and to human rights organizations. The story began to resonate in Russian media, especially in Tatarstan. However, all attempts to obtain an official response from the authorities of the United Arab Emirates met with a wall of silence.

   On June 28, 20 days after his daughter’s disappearance, Rashid Rakhimov decided to fly to Dubai on his own. He took time off from work and borrowed money from relatives for tickets and a visa.  At Dubai airport, he was met by a Russian consulate employee who escorted him to the police station to file an official missing person report.

  The police officer who took the statement acted formally and disinterestedly. He wrote down basic information about Sabina, but when Rashid began to describe the circumstances of her disappearance, the officer interrupted him, saying that many young tourists disappear in Dubai for a few days and then turn up in other emirates or neighboring countries.

  He advised waiting another week before panicking.  Rashid spent five days in Dubai , visiting hospitals, morgues, and contacting hotels and travel agencies.  Nobody knew anything about his daughter.  The Opus Hotel confirmed that it had indeed hosted a private event on the dates indicated, but the details were a commercial secret and the administration could not disclose them without a court order.

  On July 5, Rashid Rakhimov returned to Kazan empty-handed, but did not surrender.  He created a group on social media where he posted photos of his daughter and asked anyone who might have seen her in Dubai to respond. Parents of other conference participants from different countries joined the group.

  It turned out that at least eight families lost contact with their daughters around the same time.  Particularly active was Nursari’s mother from Jakarta, who organized coordination of efforts between the families of the missing girls.  Through her, Rashid learned that parents from Pakistan, Morocco and Egypt faced exactly the same situation.

  Their daughters disappeared after participating in the same project, and the organizers gave the same explanations about the spiritual retreat.   On July 13, the first breakthrough in the case occurred.   A Dubai food delivery worker named Karim Al-Mahdi contacted the Indonesian consulate to report seeing women matching the description of the missing conference participants.

He said he regularly delivered orders to a villa in the upscale Jumeirah area, where he saw a group of young women looking depressed and frightened. Karim said that during one of his deliveries, two girls of Asian appearance approached him.  and asked for help. They spoke English with an Indonesian accent and claimed they were being held against their will.

  One of them slipped him a note asking him to deliver a message to the Indonesian consulate.  The note included Nur Sari’s name and her mother’s phone number in Jakarta. Information from Karim led Indonesian diplomats to formally request Dubai authorities to verify the address.  However, when the police arrived at the villa, no one was there.

  The property owner said he had rented the house to a tour group that had already left the country.  However, this was the first concrete trace. Karim agreed to give detailed testimony and described the situation at the Villa. According to him, the windows of most rooms were covered with thick curtains even during the day, and guards were constantly on duty in the courtyard.

He also noticed that the girls he saw were wearing the same clothes: long white dresses and headscarves, which seemed strange to him for tourists.   On July 17, the story took an unexpected turn.   An anonymous account appeared on social media and began publishing photographs and documents related to the “Future Muslim Women” project.

  The materials included internal correspondence from the organizers, lists of participants with their personal information and photographs, and financial documents showing that the project was financed not only by Sheikh Talal, but also by several other influential businessmen from various Gulf countries .   The most shocking document was an internal memorandum that described the participants not as intellectuals, but as premium goods, with detailed descriptions of their appearance, education, and family status.

The document stated that preference was given to girls from poor families who were unlikely to be able to organize a serious search in the event of a disappearance.   An anonymous source also released an audio recording that was allegedly made by one of the missing participants.

  The recording featured a female voice speaking English with a noticeable accent.  My name is Aisha Khan and I am from Karachi.  If anyone hears this, please tell my family that I am alive but I can’t go home.  We are kept in a house where we are not allowed to leave. Sabina tried to escape from Russia.  She was caught and beaten.

  I never saw her again after that day. The recording was analyzed by experts, who confirmed that it had not been edited.  The voice matched the description of Aisha Khan, a 20-year-old Pakistani student who was among the missing conference participants. This was the first direct evidence that the girls were actually being held against their will.

Following the publication of these materials, the authorities of the United Arab Emirates officially commented on the situation for the first time.   A Dubai police spokesman said an investigation was underway into an organization that may have been running fraudulent educational programs, but denied any evidence of coercion or human trafficking.

At the same time, Sheikh Talal al-Nahyan, through his representatives, issued a statement in which he categorically denied any connection with the disappearance of the conference participants.  He claimed that his name had been used by scammers without his knowledge and that he was willing to cooperate with authorities in their investigation.

   The project’s official website had already been closed by that time, and all email addresses associated with it had stopped responding. Early in the morning of July 19, cleaning staff at the Opus Hotel discovered a large glass aquarium in one of the banquet halls on the floor, left over from a private event held the previous day.

The aquarium was installed in the center of the hall and apparently served as a decorative element for some kind of celebration. Cleaning worker Maria Santos, a Filipina who had worked at the hotel for five years, later told investigators that she initially thought the aquarium contained a lifelike doll or mannequin, possibly part of an art installation.

  In Dubai’s luxury hotels, such art pieces were not uncommon, especially after private events for wealthy clients.  However, when Maria came closer to start cleaning around the aquarium, she realized that there was a real human body inside. The woman screamed and called hotel security.  The first to arrive at the scene were security guards, who immediately cordoned off the hall and called the police.

The body in the aquarium belonged to a young woman of oriental appearance.  Her face was disfigured beyond recognition, her eyes were gouged out, and the skin on most of her body was missing, especially on her legs and arms.  There were gunshot wounds in the knees and the stomach was cut open. Moreover, some internal organs were removed and laid out around the body inside the aquarium.

  The water in the aquarium had a reddish tint from the blood, but was clear enough to see all the horrific details.  At the bottom lay objects that looked like ritual instruments, several knives with ornamented handles, metal tongs and some symbols engraved on small plates.  Police officers who arrived at the scene initially mistook the find for part of an art installation or a special effect for a film.

  Dubai was a regular location for Hollywood blockbusters, and realistic replicas were commonplace. Only after the medical examiner confirmed that the body was real did a full investigation begin. It was impossible to identify the victim by appearance due to the nature of the injuries. However, personal belongings were found near the aquarium : a small bag with documents and jewelry.

The passport belonged to Sabina Rakhimova, a student from Kazan.  The purse also contained her Russian driver’s license, student ID card and several photographs with her family. News of the body’s discovery quickly leaked to the media, despite authorities’ attempts to keep the information secret.   An anonymous source in Dubai police provided journalists with photographs of the scene, which soon appeared online.

  The images were so shocking that most publications refused to publish them even with blurring. Rashid and Aliya Rakhimov learned of their daughter’s death not from official authorities, but from news reports on social media.   The Russian consulate contacted them only several hours after the information became public. The consul expressed his condolences and assured that he would seek a full investigation into the circumstances of Sabina’s death.

However, the official investigation faced obstacles from the very beginning .  The hotel administration claimed that it did not know who organized the event in the banquet hall, since the rental was arranged through third parties.  The company listed in the documents as the tenant turned out to be non-existent.

   The address given was an empty office, and the phone numbers were not answered.   The hotel’s CCTV footage for the period July 15-19 was mysteriously corrupted due to a technical glitch.  The hotel security service was able to recover only a few short fragments, which showed people in dark clothes and masks carrying some objects along the corridors, but their faces were impossible to discern .

  An autopsy confirmed that Sabina had been subjected to prolonged torture before her death. The forensic expert determined that the skin had been stripped from the living victim, the eyes had been gouged out, and the knee joints had been shot with a small-caliber weapon.  Death occurred from loss of blood and pain shock, but the process of torment continued for several hours, possibly days.

Investigators were particularly alarmed by the fact that the nature of the injuries was clearly ritualistic.  Experts on religious cults have suggested that the murder was committed as part of some kind of satanic ritual or occult ceremony. The symbols found in the aquarium did not correspond to any known religious tradition, but were similar to the attributes of secret societies.

  On July 21, the investigation received another important piece of evidence. Karim Al-Mahdi, a delivery driver who had previously reported Villa as suspicious , contacted police and reported what he had seen in the days before the body was discovered.  According to him, on the evening of July 18, he was delivering an order to a private residence in the Palm Jumeirah area and witnessed a strange scene.

  Karim said he saw a group of people in black robes unloading a large glass container from a minibus.  He couldn’t see what was inside the container, but he noticed that people were handling it very carefully, as if it were something fragile and valuable.  Karim remembered the address of the residence because he got lost and spent a long time looking for the right house.

  When police arrived at the address, the residence was empty. Neighbors said that the house belongs to a local businessman, but he has been abroad for several months.  Inside the house, investigators found evidence of the recent presence of a large number of people: food scraps, cigarette butts, empty water bottles.  In the basement of the residence, a room was found whose walls were covered with strange drawings and symbols painted in red paint.

In the center of the room stood an altar of black stone with a five-pointed star, upside down.  Next to the altar lay ritual objects: candles, knives, metal bowls and some manuscripts in Arabic. An examination showed that the red paint on the walls contained traces of human blood.

  DNA analysis confirmed that the blood belonged to several different people, including Sabina Rakhimova.  This meant that the girl had spent some time in this house before her death and had been subjected to abuse there. The discovery at the residence gave investigators a new direction to work.  It became clear that Sabina’s murder was not a random crime, but part of an organized group of people practicing some form of Satanism or occultism.

The nature of the symbols and ritual objects indicated that the group had a complex hierarchy and acted according to a pre- planned plan.  On July 23, an anonymous source leaked an audio recording to several international media outlets, which was allegedly made during one of the rituals.   The recording contained female screams, male voices chanting some kind of spell in Arabic, and sounds that could have been blows or torture.

An examination confirmed the authenticity of the recording, but it was impossible to determine the identities of the speakers . Linguists have established that the spells were pronounced in classical Arabic using archaic forms characteristic of medieval occult texts.  This indicated that the ritual organizers had significant knowledge of ancient magical practices.

  The recording also included a female voice saying phrases in Russian: “Please stop. I want to go home.”  Mom, help me.   A phonoscopic examination showed a high probability that this was the voice of Sabina Rakhimova, although it was impossible to establish this with absolute certainty due to the quality of the recording and distortions due to fear and pain.

  On July 25, the investigation received new impetus thanks to the testimony of two Indonesian girls who managed to escape from captivity.  Nur Sari and Dewi Stari were found by Indonesian consulate staff at a Dubai medical centre, where they sought treatment in a state of extreme exhaustion and psychological shock.  The girls told a horrifying story about what happened to the conference participants after their arrival in Dubai.

  According to them, after the first day, when everyone was introduced to each other, they were transported to a villa in the Jumeirah area under the pretext of a change of location for more private discussions. There, their documents and phones were immediately confiscated , with the explanation that this was necessary security measures.

Nur told investigators that there were about twenty girls from different countries in the house.  All of them were placed in rooms with no windows or boarded up windows.  Leave the rooms.  were allowed only when accompanied by guards, and attempts to communicate with each other were strictly prohibited.

  They were fed meager food once a day, and water was given in limited portions. Devi added that a few days after their arrival, what the organizers called training sessions began.  The girls were forced to memorize texts in Arabic, the content of which was not explained to them. Those who refused or had poor memory were subjected to physical punishment, beaten, deprived of food, and locked in dark rooms.

  According to witnesses, Sabina showed resistance from the very beginning . She refused to participate in training sessions, demanded that her documents and phone be returned, and threatened to contact the Russian consulate. The organizers initially tried to break her will through psychological pressure, but when that didn’t work, they moved on to more severe methods.

  Nur recalled how one night Sabina was taken from the shared bedroom by several masked men.  They returned her only in the morning, unconscious, with bruises all over her body and burns on her arms and legs.  After this, the Russian girl became more submissive, but despair could be seen in her eyes.  Both witnesses described rituals that took place in the basement of the villa several times a week.

  The participants were forced to attend these ceremonies as spectators, explaining that this was part of their education. The rituals included animal sacrifice, the recitation of spells, and various sadistic acts.  Devi said that the leader of the group was a middle- aged man whom everyone called Master Ibrahim.

  He wore a black hooded robe and never removed the mask that covered the lower half of his face. It was he who carried out most of the rituals and gave orders to the rest of the group, of which there were about ten people.  According to the girls, the group members spoke to each other in Arabic, but sometimes switched to English.

Some of them had distinctly Western names and accents, indicating the international nature of the organization. Nour remembered that one of the men introduced himself as David and spoke with an American accent, while a woman named Angelique spoke with a French accent. The most terrible thing, according to the witnesses, was the last ritual they had the chance to attend.

This happened about a week before their escape. Sabina was brought to the basement in a white dress. Her hands were tied behind her back.  Master Ibrahim gave a long speech in Arabic, calling her a rebellious victim who must atone for her pride. Nur began to cry, remembering this scene. She said that Sabina was placed on a stone altar, and Master Ibrahim began to perform some manipulations on her with a knife.

  At first it looked like a symbolic action, but then the knife touched the girl’s skin and she screamed in pain. At this moment, all the spectators were led out of the basement.  Davy added that they didn’t see Sabina again the next day.  In response to their questions, the guards replied that the Russian girl had completed her training and had been transferred to the next level.

  They were told nothing more about her fate , but the atmosphere in the house became even more tense and frightening. The escape of the Indonesian girls happened by accident.  While delivering food, one of the couriers turned out to be their compatriot, and they managed to pass him a note asking for help.  The courier contacted the Indonesian consulate, and within a few days an operation was organised to free them.

  The remaining girls remained in the house, and their fate is unknown. The testimony of Noura and Devi became key evidence that Sabina’s murder was not an isolated incident, but part of a systematic activity of an international criminal organization. The investigation received specific names, physical descriptions of the suspects, and addresses where other victims might be hiding .

However, when police arrived at the addresses given by the witnesses, all the properties were empty.  The organisers apparently received information about the escape of the Indonesian girls and hastily eliminated traces of their activities.   There were no documents, computers or any evidence left in the houses that could lead to arrests.

  On July 27, the Russian Embassy sent an official note of protest to the government of the United Arab Emirates demanding a full investigation into the murder of Sabina Rakhimova and the arrest of all those involved.  The document stated that inaction by local authorities could be seen as condoning international criminal activity.

  In response, UAE authorities stated that the investigation was being conducted in full, but was complicated by the international nature of the crime and the difficulty of gathering evidence.  They promised close cooperation with Russian law enforcement agencies and the deployment of additional resources to solve the crime.

However, in practice, cooperation left much to be desired.  Russian investigators were denied direct participation in the investigation under the pretext of local legislation. Requests for the provision of case materials were fulfilled with significant delays and in a truncated form.

  At the same time, messages began appearing on social networks and forums from people claiming to know of the existence of similar organizations in other countries in the region.  Anonymous sources have reported cases of young women going missing in Qatar.  Saudi Arabia and Kuwait under similar circumstances.   On August 1, the international human rights organization Human Rights Watch published a report accusing the UAE authorities of an inadequate response to the case of Sabina Rakhimova.

The document stated that the lack of arrests and the classification of case materials could indicate patronage of the criminal group by influential individuals. The report also included information that over the past three years,  more than 50 cases of disappearance of young women who arrived on tourist or educational visas have been recorded in the Gulf countries.

  Most of these cases were never solved, and official authorities explained their disappearances by voluntarily leaving for other countries.  The report paid particular attention to the role of social media and the Internet in recruiting victims. Human rights activists have established that criminal groups are creating dozens of fake educational and charitable projects to lure gullible girls from developing countries with promises of scholarships, internships, and career opportunities.

   On August 5, Sabina’s family received permission to repatriate their daughter’s body for burial in Russia.  However, when the coffin arrived in Kazan, it turned out that the OA authorities had not handed over all the remains. A forensic expert in Kazan determined that some internal organs were missing, which, according to documents from Dubai, should have been present in the body.

  This circumstance caused a new wave of indignation.  Sabina’s parents and their lawyers said the concealment of some of the remains may be an attempt to hide evidence that could point to the specific perpetrators of the crime. Russian authorities have sent another diplomatic protest demanding an explanation.

  Sabina’s funeral took place on August 9 in Kazan. Hundreds of people attended the farewell ceremony: classmates, teachers, and simply sympathetic citizens.  The girl’s mother, Aliya Rakhimova, gave a speech in which she vowed to seek justice and not allow her daughter’s death to be forgotten. After the funeral, the Rakhimov family began their own investigation.

They created a foundation in Sabina’s memory, which collected information about similar crimes and provided assistance to the families of other victims. Parents of missing girls from eight countries contacted them, and gradually a picture of a large-scale international operation began to emerge. The foundation also hired private investigators who worked in the Persian Gulf countries.

  After several months, they were able to establish that the organization behind Sabina’s murder had connections to several influential businessmen and politicians in the region.  However, it was dangerous to disclose specific names due to threats that began to be received by the family.   On August 10, an incident occurred that showed how dangerous attempts to investigate this case could be.

  Rashid Rakhimov received an anonymous call in which a male voice with an Arabic accent warned him to stop his provocative activities, otherwise his family could suffer the same fate as his daughter. After this call, the Rakhimov family was taken under protection by local law enforcement agencies. However, threats continued to arrive through various channels: anonymous letters, messages on social networks, and suspicious people appearing near the house.

  It became clear that the criminal organization had agents far beyond the borders of the OA.  On August 15, international media published an investigation based on information provided by anonymous sources in law enforcement agencies in several countries.  According to this information, the organization that killed Sabina is part of an international network engaged in human trafficking under the guise of religious and educational programs.

   The investigation claimed the network operated in 12 countries and generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue annually. Victims are used not only for sexual slavery, but also to participate in ritual killings practiced by some sects popular among the super-rich in the Middle East and the West. According to the investigation, a special role in the organization is played by representatives of the so- called black aristocracy, descendants of ancient families who profess occult practices and consider themselves

chosen. These people use their influence and wealth to organize rituals that they believe give them power over other people.   On August 20, UAE authorities acknowledged for the first time that Sabina Rakhimova’s case may be linked to an international criminal organization.  However, they continued to deny any connection between local officials or influential people and the organization.

  The creation of a special investigative team to handle such cases was announced.  At the same time, arrests began of minor figures – security guards, couriers, and real estate landlords – who could be connected to the crime. However, all those detained either refused to testify or claimed that they did not know the true nature of their employers’ activities.

  None of the group’s organizers or leaders were arrested.   On August 25, Sabina’s family received another threat.  This time more specific.  An envelope containing photographs of other family members, Rashid’s parents, his sister and children, was dropped into the mailbox of their home in Kazan.   The photographs had red crosses drawn on them and the words “Silence is life” written underneath.

  Following this incident, Russian authorities suggested that the family move to another city and change their names.  However, Rashid and Ali refused, stating that they would not allow themselves to be intimidated and would fight for justice to the end.  They continued the fund’s work, but now acted more cautiously, using intermediaries and anonymous communication channels.

  By the end of August, it became clear that the official investigation in the UAE was reaching a dead end.  All the key witnesses either disappeared or refused to testify. Physical evidence was destroyed or lost.  Authorities have announced that the case remains open, but active investigative efforts have effectively ceased. In September, the international community attempted to put pressure on the UAE authorities through various international organizations.

   The European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning the inaction of the Emirati authorities and calling for an independent investigation. Similar statements were made by the parliaments of several other countries.  However, these diplomatic demarches did not produce any real results.  The UAE is an important economic partner for many Western countries, and governments were not prepared to enter into a serious conflict over one, albeit egregious, crime.

   The case gradually disappeared from international news.  October brought new revelations from anonymous sources. Correspondence between members of a criminal organization was leaked online,  discussing plans to eliminate the problem and eliminate witnesses.   The messages mentioned specific names of people to be eliminated, including Nur and Devi, the runaway Indonesian girls.

  This information forced the Indonesian authorities to take emergency measures to protect their citizens.  Both girls were transferred to a secret location and their testimony was recorded on video for possible use at the International Court of Justice.  The Indonesian government has also launched its own investigation into the activities of such organizations.

In November, an event occurred that temporarily brought Sabina’s case back into the spotlight.  A British citizen named David Smith was arrested in London on suspicion of involvement in an international human trafficking network. During a search of his home, video recordings of ritual murders were found, including, possibly, the last days of Sabina’s life.

Smith’s arrest was the result of a months-long investigation by British police who were tracking international financial flows linked to human trafficking. It was discovered that the suspect regularly transferred large sums of money to accounts in various offshore zones, and then this money was used to finance criminal activities in the Persian Gulf countries.

  David Smith agreed to cooperate with the investigation in exchange for a reduced sentence.  His testimony confirmed that Sabina’s murder was part of an elite club for super-rich clients who paid millions of dollars to participate in ritualistic killings.  The organization operated under the guise of charitable and educational projects, luring victims from poor families around the world.

  Smith named several participants, including an American billionaire, a French socialite and two members of Gulf royal families. However, by the time the information was transmitted to Interpol, all the named individuals had disappeared.  Their accounts were closed, their properties were sold through front men, and they disappeared into the system of offshore jurisdictions.

  The videos found on Smith became key evidence in the case.  One of them recorded the last night of Sabina’s life. The girl, tied to the altar, recited prayers in the Tatar language, while participants in the ritual stood around her in masks and robes .  The recording ended at the moment when one of them raised the knife.

  Experts confirmed the authenticity of the video.  The faces of most of the participants were hidden, but their voices and gestures revealed that they included citizens of at least five countries.  One of the voices belonged to a woman with a French accent.  presumably the same Angelica described by Indonesian witnesses. In December 2023, a British court sentenced David Smith to 25 years in prison for participating in human trafficking and aiding and abetting murder.

This was the only real verdict in the Sabina Rakhimova case.   The remaining members of the organization remained unpunished. UAE authorities declared the case closed due to a lack of sufficient evidence to hold specific individuals accountable.  Sheikh Talal al-Nahyan has publicly denied any connection to the crime and filed defamation lawsuits against several media outlets.

  Most of the claims were upheld. Sabina’s family continues the work of the foundation in her memory.  Over the course of two years, they managed to help find traces of thirteen more missing girls from different countries.  Three were found alive in private clinics in Switzerland and Austria, where they were placed after participating in rituals that left them mentally damaged.

  The rest are listed as missing.  Sabina’s mother, Aliya Rakhimova, maintains a blog where she publishes new information about the activities of such organizations. She was summoned for questioning several times as a disseminator of false information, but no criminal cases were opened. The family lives under constant protection. The threats continue to come in.

   The Future Muslim Women project has disappeared without a trace.  Its website has been closed and the organizers have disappeared. However, experts from Sabina’s foundation have identified at least 12 similar projects that continue to operate in various countries under different names. The scheme remains the same.

  Young educated girls are lured with promises of scholarships and career opportunities. In official documents, Sabina Rakhimova is listed as a victim of unidentified persons. In Dubai, everyone knows the truth about what happened at the Opus Hotel in July. 2023.  But the truth remains buried under layers of diplomatic silence, corruption and fear of powerful people for whom human life is just a big-money entertainment.

   A nineteen-year-old student from Kazan has fallen victim to a system that turns education into a trap, faith into a cover, and the dreams of young people into a commodity for the darkest desires of those in power. Sabina’s story is over, but the system continues to work.