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This undated image taken from a video in an unknown location shows Sheikha Latifa talking to Mohammed Al Maktoum in a cellphone camera. The United Nations human rights body said on February 17, 2021 that it would seek information from the United Arab Emirates about the daughter of Dubai’s powerful ruler after she said in video messages that she was locked up in a heavily guarded villa. (# FreeLatifa Campaign – Tiina Jauhiainen / David Haigh via AP)
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This undated image taken from a video in an unknown location shows Sheikha Latifa talking to Mohammed Al Maktoum in a cellphone camera. The United Nations human rights body said on Wednesday, February 17, 2021 that it would seek information from the United Arab Emirates about the daughter of Dubai’s powerful ruler after she said in video messages that she was locked up in a heavily guarded villa. (# FreeLatifa Campaign – Tiina Jauhiainen / David Haigh via AP)
LONDON (AP) – Supporters of an Emirati princess who has been detained for almost three years have called on Joe Biden to put pressure on her father to release the woman, saying the US president is one of the few world leaders with the stature to win her freedom.
The case of Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum made international headlines on Tuesday after the BBC released excerpts from video diaries, which she said were recorded in a closed bathroom inside the villa in Dubai where she was being held. Sheikha Latifa was detained by commandos off the coast of India in 2018 after trying to flee Dubai with a yacht.
Friends say they are concerned about the safety of Sheikha Latifa because nothing has been heard from her since she stopped responding to text messages six months ago. The 35-year-old princess is the daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the hereditary ruler of Dubai, who also serves as Prime Minister and Vice President of the United Arab Emirates.
David Haigh, a longtime human rights lawyer in Dubai and a supporter of Sheikha Latifa, said the princess’ support was encouraged by Saudi Arabia’s recent decision to detain Loujain al-Hathloul, a women’s rights activist for three years. is, to release. charges that supporters said were politically motivated. Her release comes after Biden’s government, which said it would emphasize human rights in foreign policy, froze some arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
“The only level of people who will have enough influence to effectively force Latifa’s father to open her prison sentence are people like Joe Biden, and there are very few of them,” Haigh told The Associated Press. “And he also showed that he can do it with Saudi Arabia.”
The issue is also particularly sensitive in Britain due to economic and historical ties with Dubai and the UAE, which have built hotels and resorts to diversify an economy based on the use of the Emirates’ energy reserves. Sheikh Mohammed is the founder of the successful horse racing stable of Godolphin and is friendly with the British Queen Elizabeth II.
The secret ruler’s family life got the news in 2019, when his estranged wife, Princess Haya, fled to London and sought custody of her two children by British courts. Last year, a British judge ruled that the sheikh had waged a campaign of fear and intimidation against Princess Haya and ordered that two of his daughters, including Sheikha Latifa, be abducted.
Former Sheikha Latifa personal trainer Tiina Jauhiainen told the AP that her friend had recorded the video diaries on a phone that had been smuggled into her detention for about a year.
In the videos, the princess says she ‘is worried about my safety and my life’.
“They want propaganda from me. They wanted me to do a video and say I’m happy and volunteering here. And I refused, “she said in a video obtained by The Associated Press. ‘I do not know what can happen to me and how long it will take. And if they decide to release me, like what my life would be like. But I’m not safe at all. ”
Her fans chose to release the videos for fear of her life, Jauhiainen said.
“We are very concerned that she was caught on the phone and that she may have ended up in a worse situation than before,” Jauhiainen told AP. “We therefore hope that, with this evidence, we will finally secure her freedom.”
The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Wednesday that it would increase these new developments with the UAE.
“Other parts of the UN’s human rights system with appropriate mandates could also become involved once they have analyzed the new material or received specific allegations,” High Commissioner Rupert Colville told the BBC.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab called the videos “very disturbing” and said he supported a UN inquiry. Raab said Britain was “concerned”, but he suggested the government could do little because Latifa is not a British citizen.
Sheikh Mohammed and the Royal Court in Dubai said Latifa was safe in the loving care of her family. The UAE Government’s Dubai Media Office did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
Rodney Dixon, a lawyer for Sheikha Latifa in London, said he hoped the videos would persuade the Dubai authorities to release a client who said she just wanted to be free. Dixon, who helped secure the release of a British investigator sentenced in 2018 to a United Arab prison sentence on charges of espionage, encouraged diplomacy.
“Of course, steps can be taken, as I have said before, to impose sanctions, or take other actions,” Dixon told AP. ‘But why go down the aisle when we have a simple solution here that needs to be followed immediately? Why delay it longer, get involved in lawsuits, lawsuits? It will ultimately benefit no one in the long run. It’s better to sort it out now. ″
“Do the right thing,” he said. Release the princess. ″