Princess Latifa claims she is being held 'hostage in a villa converted into a jail'

The daughter of UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has appeared in secret recordings claiming she is being held “hostage in a villa converted into a jail”. According to a BBC documentary, Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum had tried to flee the country in 2018 after which she sent secret video messages to friends accusing her father of holding her “hostage” as she feared for her life. In the clip, Princess Latifa even claimed that the villa has been converted into a jail and all the windows are barred shut. 

The recent videos are the first time the princess has appeared, other than in material released by the Dubai royal family since a YouTube video surfaced after her escape attempt three years ago. Princess Latifa had tried to flee the country in 2018, however, she was detained by commandos in a boat off India. In the clip, the princess said that commandos drugged her as she fled by boat and flew her back to detention. 

Dubai and the UAE have previously said that she is safe in the care of her family. But Princess Latifa in the video said that she is a “hostage” and has been by herself in “solitary confinement”. She even added that she has no access to medical help, no trial, and no charge. 

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“I’m doing this video from a bathroom because this is the only room with a door I can lock. I’m a hostage. I am not free. I’m enslaved in this jail. My life is not in my hands,” Princess Latifa said in the video which was aired on February 16. 

The Princess said that she was worried about her safety and feared that she would “never see the sun again”. The latest videos include her first account of how her attempt to flee in January 2018 failed. The documentary says that around a year after Princess Latifa was taken back to Dubai after which her friend Tiina Jauhiainen was contacted by someone who helped her secretly reconnect with her.

‘I just want to be free’ 

Jauhiainen managed to get a phone to Latifa and since then the princess has recorded many video messages describing her captivity in a villa converted into a jail. In the documentary, Jauhiainen said that she is “greatly concerned” for her friend. She said that Latifa is so pale and she hasn’t seen sunlight for months. “She can basically move just from her room to the kitchen and back,” Jauhiainen said. 

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Princess Latifa said, “I’m reaching a point where I’m getting so tired of everything. It’s like a circus … I just want to be free. I don’t know what they’re planning on doing with me. The situation is getting more desperate every day”. 

Moreover, the documentary also includes an interview with Mary Robinson, who is a former president of Ireland and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Robinson appeared in photos with Latifa published by Emirati officials after the sheikha’s return to Dubai in 2018. While speaking to the media outlet, Robinson said that she had been misled by Emirati authorities who told her Latifa was a troubled young woman safe in the care of her family. 

It is worth noting that Sheikh Mohammed's family life again became a public matter in 2020. Back then, a British judge ruled the Sheikh that he had conducted a campaign of fear and intimidation against his estranged wife and ordered the abduction of two of his daughters, one of them Sheikha Latifa. The ruling came in a custody battle between Sheikh Mohammed and estranged wife Princess Haya, daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan.

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