Source: BBC Panorama
The daughter of Dubai’s ruler who tried to flee the country in 2018 later sent secret video messages to friends accusing her father of holding her “hostage” as she feared for her life.
In footage shared with BBC Panorama, Princess Latifa Al Maktoum says commandos drugged her as she fled by boat and flew her back to detention.
The secret messages have stopped – and friends are urging the UN to step in.
Dubai and the UAE have previously said she is safe in the care of family.
Ex-UN rights envoy Mary Robinson, who had described Latifa as a “troubled young woman” after meeting her in 2018, now says she was “horribly tricked” by the princess’s family.
The former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and president of Ireland has joined calls for international action to establish Latifa’s current condition and whereabouts.
“I continue to be very worried about Latifa. Things have moved on. And so I think it should be investigated,” she said.
Latifa’s father, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, is one of the richest heads of state in the world, the ruler of Dubai and vice-president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The videos were recorded over several months on a phone Latifa was secretly given about a year after her capture and return to Dubai. She recorded them in a bathroom as it had the only door she could lock.
In the messages, she detailed how:
- she fought back against the soldiers taking her off the boat, “kicking and fighting” and biting one Emirati commando’s arm until he screamed
- after being tranquillised she lost consciousness as she was being carried on to a private jet, and didn’t wake up until it landed in Dubai
- she was being held alone without access to medical or legal help in a villa with windows and doors barred shut, and guarded by police
Categories: Muslim women, Rights of Women, Women, Women In islam, Women Rights
The UAE Foreign Ministry releases three photos of Latifa from a 15 December lunch with one of Sheikh Mohammed’s wives, Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, and Mary Robinson, a former UN human rights commissioner. This is the first time anyone has seen Latifa since the failed escape.
Three days later, Mary Robinson appears on the BBC’s Today Programme where says she was asked to visit Latifa by Princess Haya. She describes Latifa as a “troubled young woman” who is receiving “psychiatric care.”
She immediately receives pushback from the international human rights community and campaign groups accuse her of pedalling the “Dubai line”.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-56085734