BBC documentary 'Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods'
Mohammed Al Fayed, most known as the former owner of Harrods and the father of Princess Diana’s last boyfriend, Dodi Al Fayed, has been accused of sexual misconduct and assaults as well as serial rapes.
BBC reported on the 19th that multiple female employees have accused Al Fayed of sexual harassment and assaults during his time at Harrods as the CEO.
With a background as an immigrant from Egypt, Al Fayed, who died last September at the age of 94, is known for his story as a bootstrapper - from a street vendor selling beverages to the owner of Harrods in London and the Ritz hotel in Paris,
Through the documentary and podcast ‘Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods’, BBC broadcasted the stories of multiple women who accuse him of sexual assault and attempted rape at his private properties in London and Paris under the name of ‘work trip’.
The former employees of Harrods under Al Fayed testify that while they were working in his office, the former owner repeatedly attempted to rape the female personal assistants. The ages of the victims vary-one of them was as young as 15 years old when the crime happened.
One former PA of Al Fayed says that she felt a deep anger when she saw the scene of him in the Netflix drama ‘The Crown’. She described him as a humorous character to the people around him and added, “He should not be remembered like that.”
Another former employee, who wished to use the pseudonym Rachael, testifies that when she was working at Harrods at the age of 19, she was raped by Al Fayed on the night when her work finished late.
Multiple women have revealed that there was a pattern to the former owner’s crime; the personal assistants were forced to get a health check-up from the private doctor at Harrods, and some explicit check-ups for STDs were present. Some claim that they received some degrading comments and orders from Al Fayed when results showed their STDs.
One former employee who worked on the management team claims that Al Fayed’s pattern of ‘hunting for the next girl’ was to go on floor walks and spot new sales associates that he liked. She was then ordered to arrange interviews for these sales associates with Al Fayed for his PA position in his office.
Several testimonies of male employees are also included. One former private security guard of Al Fayed claims that “Everyone knew what was going on. There were patterns of these young girls running down the stairs of his Park Lane apartment, all very upset.”
All these witnesses and victims in the documentary agreed that their work environment at Harrods under Al Fayed was very threatening and aggressive, which is why their stories were silenced until Al Fayed passed away.
Harrods announced their official response to the documentary, saying they are “utterly appalled” and that “the Harrods of today is very different from the one owned and controlled by Al Fayed.” They also emphasised that their support lines and employee assistance programs are open to all former and current employees of Harrods who are impacted by any misconduct in their work environment.
