Hell’s Gates have opened after complaints about Mohammed Al Fayed by female workers at Harrolds. The women alleged that the businessman, who passed away last year, had sexually assaulted and raped them.
On Thursday (14/11) three more allegations came to light from women who worked at Harrods, who told the BBC that Mohammed Al Fayed’s brother Salah abused them between 1989 and 1997. In fact, one woman believes he drugged and raped her.
The three women allege that they were also sexually assaulted and raped by Mohammed Al Fayed, then chairman of Harrods.
The company that runs Harrods department store, which came under new ownership in 2010, said in a statement that the new allegations show the “scope of the abuse” by Al Fayed and “raise serious allegations” against his brother.
The allegations about Salah Fayed
Salah Fayed, who died in 2010 after a battle with pancreatic cancer, was one of Al Fayed’s three brothers. For the record, Mohammed had added “Al” to his last name in the 1970s.
Helen, one of the three complainants, told the BBC she was 23 when she landed her dream job at Harrods. After two years at the department store, she alleged that Mohammed Al Fayed raped her in a hotel room in Dubai.
Months later, Mohammed offered her to become Salah’s assistant, and she saw the position as an opportunity to avoid her abuser. However, the reality turned out to be different after Salah drugged and raped her. “Mohammed Fayed was sharing me with his brother,” she said.
Helen remained silent for 35 years after signing a confidentiality agreement with Harrods. “They stole a piece of me. They changed the course of my whole life,” she said.
The BBC also spoke to two other women who say they were abused by both Mohammed and Salah.
“He was trying to get me addicted to crack”
They say they were forced to go abroad and claim they were tricked by Salah into smoking crack cocaine. “He was trying to get me addicted to crack so he could do whatever he wanted to me,” one of the women told the BBC.