French mother in custody battle with Saudi prince “falls to her death”

By Devorah Lauter, Paris/Telegraph  19 Aug 2012

Police are still investigating what caused the death of Candice Cohen-Ahnine, 35, who fell from her Paris apartment window on Thursday night.

Investigators reportedly had been leaning towards an accident as cause of death, but by Sunday reports in the French media suggested Ms Cohen-Ahnine had slipped and fallen to her death “as if she was escaping something dangerous”.

Police refused to confirm the reports when contacted by The Daily Telegraph.

Ms Cohen-Ahnine’s lawyer, Laurence Tarquiny-Charpentier, said the death “seemed to be some sort of accident,” and did not know whether foul play was involved. She said witnesses had been at the scene of the crime, and more information about the circumstances of the death is expected Monday.

“What I can tell you is that it wasn’t a suicide,” Ms Tarquiny-Charpentier said .

• Father in custody battle ‘kills son, then himself’ 19 Aug 2010
• Father went on California gun massacre ‘over custody of son’ 13 Oct 2011
• French mother wins custody battle against Saudi prince 31 Jan 2012

“She was a woman who was a real fighter and a very positive person, and plus, there were plans to see [her daughter] Aya in mid-September. That was her greatest motivation of all.”

Ms Cohen-Ahnine recently wrote a book describing her fight to “get back” her 11-year-old daughter, Aya, whom the mother claimed has been held captive by the girl’s father, Prince Sattam al-Saud from the Saudi royal family, since September 2008.

She alleged that when she agreed to visit Prince Sattam with her daughter in 2008, she was immediately locked up in a Riyadh palace, and accused by authorities of being a Muslim who converted to Judaism, a crime punishable by death in Saudi Arabia. When a maid left her door open she was able to escape to the French embassy, and return alone to France.

In January a Paris criminal court ordered Prince Sattam al-Saud to hand over custody of his daughter to her mother and provide child support of 10,000 euros (£8,300) a month. But the prince reportedly dismissed the ruling, and said: “If need be, I’ll go like [Osama] bin Laden and hide in the mountains with Aya.”

Nonetheless Ms Cohen-Ahnine’s lawyer said delicate negotiations with the prince had led to improved ties, and a planned visit with Aya was due next month.

Simply obtaining the visit was, “already a positive first step, because getting to open the doors to the prince’s palace was very complex, and required the work of a huge team of people,” her lawyer said.

“We were so close to her goal. And we spoke on the telephone the day before she died. We were supposed to meet tomorrow to get things ready,” said Ms Tarquiney-Charpentier. “It’s so painful, and at the same time, there is this feeling of failure.”

Ms Cohen-Ahnin and the prince met in London and their daughter was born in November 2001. Their relationship continued until 2006 when he allegedly announced he was obliged to marry a cousin, but that she could be a second wife. She refused and they separated.

The prince denied ever having kidnapped the child or the mother.

Reacting to the death, Jean-Claude Elfassi, co-author of Ms Cohen-Ahnin’s book wrote in his blog on August 17: “I can only show my disgust at the slowness of the investigating judge in charge of her case, who after three years of investigating never delivered an arrest warrant for Prince Sattam al-Saud,” wrote Mr Elfassi.