The terrified daughter of the Dubai ruler begged for help to be held “hostage” by her father in disturbing recordings that were released after her supporters lost contact with her.
Princess Latifa Al Maktoum made whispered requests for help in a series of clandestine videos recorded on a phone that was smuggled into her “prison” villa in the Kingdom, support group Latifah Livre said.
“I am a hostage and this villa has been converted into a prison,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s daughter said in one of the clips shared with the BBC.
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She filmed the videos in a bathroom “because this is the only room with a door that I can lock,” she said.
“There are five policemen outside and two women inside the house, and I can’t even go out for fresh air,” continued Latifa, 35, adding that the windows were “closed with bars”.
“Every day I am concerned about my safety and my life. I don’t really know if I’m going to survive this situation.
“The police threatened me saying that I will be in prison for life and never see the sun again,” she said in clips shared with the BBC.
Latifah Livre says the princess is one of about 30 children of Sheikh Mohammed, 71, who also serves as prime minister and vice president in the United Arab Emirates.
She has been held captive since her father captured her on a boat off the coast of India when she tried to escape Dubai in 2018, Free Latifah said.
They decided to release their secret recordings after losing all contact last year, they said.
“Now that communication with Latifa has been interrupted, we are seriously concerned about her safety and we believe that this was the right time to release to the media some of the videos that Latifa sent us,” said his cousin Marcus Essabri.
Dubai always insisted that the princess was safe and with family.
But Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, admitted that she was “tricked” into helping to present that image when she was photographed with the princess after her return to Dubai in 2018.
Robinson told the BBC that she had been informed that Latifa was bipolar and did not ask about her situation because she did not want to “increase the trauma” of her “condition”.
“I was particularly deceived when the photos became public,” she said of the images used to “prove” that Latifa was fine.
“It was a total surprise … I was absolutely amazed,” said Robinson.
Free Latifah called on President Biden to intervene and for people to boycott the Kingdom.
“We need tourists to decide not to go to Dubai and we need world leaders to force Sheikh Mohammed to end this grotesque farce and put an end to a horrendous period of parental and human rights abuses that has disgusted the world,” said the lawyer. princess, David Haigh, one of the group’s founders.
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Sheikh Mohammed has long faced charges of abuse.
Last year, a British judge ruled that the sheikh had conducted a campaign of fear and intimidation against his ex-wife and ordered the kidnapping of two of his daughters, one of them to Sheikha Latifa.
The decision came in a battle between Sheikh Mohammed and ex-wife Princess Haya, daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan, over the welfare of her two children.
Sheikh Mohammed is the founder of the successful horse racing stable Godolphin and is said to maintain friendly relations with Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.
In 2019, he received a queen’s trophy after one of his horses won a race at the Royal Ascot.
The government’s Dubai Media Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, the Associated Press said.