The New South Wales (NSW) Supreme Court rejected on Tuesday a bid by Australia and Asia's richest woman, Gina Rinehart, to keep secret the details of her family court feud. In seeking the extension of an existing suppression order due to expire on Friday, her lawyers cited a threat to Ms Rinehart's life made by an anonymous man in Dubai.

Justice Michael Ball dismissed the application to reopen a suppression order. He said the threat, reported by West Australian security consultant Adrian Francis, was not credible.

The lawyers of Ms Rinehart read in court the affidavit of Mr Francis, who said an unknown man with an Arabic accent approached him in Dubai and claimed Ms Rinehart was in danger. Mr Francis said he followed the man for a short distance, but lost him in the market. He described the man as between the ages of 30 and 35, and had a Middle Eastern appearance with a slight beard styled in the typical Saudi Arabian fashion.

The man approached him in the street outside the Radisson Blu hotel on Feb 28, said Mr Francis who is the director of ASSI International which is based in Western Australia. Mr Francis has been an NSW detective and worked with the Western Australia Anti-Corruption Commission.

Mr Francis immediately contacted the NSW and WA police to inform them of the threat, but he said the police took the matter lightly so he decided to inform Ms Rinehart's lawyers about the matter.

However, despite his credentials, the justice was not satisfied with the evidence Mr Francis provided. Mr Francis claims he is well known to different senior security people in the Middle East due to his professional dealings with them.

Unless the justice reverses his decision, details of the Rinehart family feud - spurred by the filing of a lawsuit of three of Ms Rinehart's estranged children to remove her as head of the family trust - would be available by Friday.

Various Australian media organisations have opposed the suppression order which was also rejected by the NSW Court of Appeal in 2011.

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