UAE removes online references to Hind al-Owais after Epstein email revelations

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has quietly removed multiple online references to Hind al-Owais, a senior Emirati official, following the emergence of her email correspondence with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Owais previously served as director of the UAE’s Permanent Committee for Human Rights (PCHR), a government body established in 2019 to promote the country’s human rights record.

References to her role have recently been deleted from the committee’s website and social media platforms, including Instagram, X, and LinkedIn.

Posts published as recently as two weeks ago identifying Owais as the PCHR’s director have been deleted, according to a report by Middle East Eye.

Among the removed content were announcements stating that she participated in the sixth Global Tolerance and Human Fraternity Conference held in Dubai in February 2025.

A webpage on the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy (AGDA) site, where Owais was listed as a moderator, has also been taken down. Web archive records show the page was still accessible in December 2025 but now returns a “404 Page not found” message.

Additional references to Owais have reportedly been removed from the World Governments Summit website. A speaker profile page that previously listed her as a participant and described her as “Senior Vice President of International Participants at Expo 2020” now redirects to the summit’s homepage.

According to web archives and Google search results, several other pages mentioning Owais — including events on women in public policy, human rights and artificial intelligence, children’s rights, and regional human rights mechanisms — have been removed from the PCHR website.

The site’s entire “news and opinions” section, which was still accessible as recently as December 2025, was no longer accessible as of February 11.

The removals follow the release of a tranche of US Department of Justice files showing that Owais exchanged emails with Epstein between November 2010 and December 2012, after his 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor. He was later arrested on federal sex-trafficking charges.

In one email dated January 2012, Owais wrote to Epstein: “Are you in town?? My sister is here and I have told her so much about you…. I want her to meet you…. Let me know when!!!!! Kisses, Hind.”

Owais, who in 2015 became the first Emirati woman appointed to an international post at the United Nations headquarters, has not publicly commented on the revelations.

Epstein had associations with prominent political and business figures, including US President Donald Trump, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, and former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak.

Epstein died in 2019 while in federal custody awaiting trial; his death was officially ruled a "suicide."

On January 30, the US Department of Justice released more than three million pages of files linked to its long-running investigation into Epstein, sending shockwaves across media, politics, academia, finance, and even Hollywood, forcing prominent figures to account for their ties to Epstein.

The latest disclosures have raised questions about the network of influential figures involved, whose dealings have so far escaped wider legal scrutiny.

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