“In the summer of 2000, Shamsa escaped from the family holiday home in England. She was 18 years old … and with common sense,” Princess Latifa, who also claims to be being held hostage, wrote in a letter to CNN sent by her friend David Haigh, a campaigner for her release and part of Detained International, a legal advisory organization.
“She was enslaved and oppressed and suffered physical abuse by family members … She wanted to seek asylum in the UK, where she has a family living there permanently. After a few months she was abducted … She was dragged “The street kicks and screams. She is calm and has flown back to Dubai,” Latifa wrote in the February 2018 document.
The princess added that her sister was tortured, ‘kept unattended without release date, trial or charge’.
“She was tortured by having her feet looked at, something I myself experienced with my own imprisonment,” she wrote.
“Her ultimate goal is to be an emancipated person, to live with dignity, to have freedom of choice and freedom of movement … She wants the basic rights to which all people are entitled,” the princess continues.
The princess said her sister had ‘strong ties with England’ and was abducted illegally on British soil.
“All I ask of you is to please pay attention to her case, because it can give her freedom, which is the only thing she wants in life,” she added.
In a statement sent to CNN, Cambridgeshire police confirmed that they had received a letter, “dated February 2018 regarding this matter which will be considered as part of the ongoing review.”
The force also said it was investigating the recent BBC Panorama documentary, in which Latifa himself is being held hostage in Dubai.
The British Foreign Office declined to comment Thursday.
A recent statement by her family said the coverage of Latifa’s situation “is not a reflection of the real position”, according to the United Arab Emirates’ embassy in London.
The letter was delivered to the police by one of Latifa’s cousins and Haigh.
The group also submitted a ‘transcript of a number of video statements of Sheikha Latifa’, obtained by smuggling a mobile phone with great difficulty and danger to the Sheikha Latifa prison in Dubai, ‘Haigh said in the letter sent to police and shared with CNN, using her Arabic title.
“Contact [with Latifa] was maintained for most of 2019 and 2020. “Contact was lost in the second half of 2020,” Haigh said.
The group also claims to have evidence that one British citizen was involved in the abduction of Princess Shamsa.
“We have not been able to disclose such evidence before because we believe it was an unacceptable risk to the life and safety of Sheikha Latifa. However, now that contact has been lost, we are very concerned about her life and safety and we have decided to take the step of disclosing the evidence, ‘Haigh added.