GENEVA – UN human rights experts have sounded the alarm on Tuesday that the Dubai government has not responded to repeated requests for proof that Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed al-Maktoum, the daughter of Dubai’s billionaire ruler, is alive.
“Evidence of her life and assurances about her well-being are urgently needed,” UN analysts said in a statement two months after sheikha Latifa’s friends released dramatic videos in which she said she was being held captive. a palace in Dubai. and he feared for her life.
The 13 experts, including members of a group dealing with enforced disappearances, tried to escalate international pressure on the Dubai government by demanding the immediate release of Sheikha Latifa.
“It is now the duty of world leaders to support the UN and support them for their immediate release,” David Haigh, a British freedom advocate for Sheikha Latifah, said in a telephone interview.
The 35-year-old princess tried to escape her controlled life in Dubai twice, in 2002 and 2018. On the second occasion she fled aboard a yacht, only to be abducted by Indian commanders who attacked the ship. near the coast of India and handed it over to Emirati security officers.
Sheikha Latifa has been virtually unseen in public ever since, appearing once in a photo of a 2018 luncheon attended by former Irish President Mary Robinson. At the time, Ms Robinson said she believed Sheikha Latifa was mentally disturbed and receiving good care from her family, but later told the BBC she was “horribly deceived”.
“Every day, I worry about my safety in my life,” Sheikha Latifa said in her recent video, which friends said was recorded on a cell phone and smuggled into by smugglers. “I don’t really know if I’ll survive this situation.”
Dubai’s prior assurances that it is cared for by family and medical professionals are not “sufficient at this stage,” the UN group said.
The diplomatic missions of the United Arab Emirates in Geneva and London could not be contacted to comment on the UN group’s statement.
Concern for Sheikha Latifa’s well-being has been reinforced by reports of the harsh behavior of her father, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who appeared in divorce proceedings in British courts by one of his wives, Princess Haya.
A judge found last year that Sheikh Mohammed had also abducted Sheikha Latifah’s sister, Shamsa. The court learned that she was confiscated on the streets of Cambridge in August 2000 after leaving an estate owned by her father, then taken by helicopter to France and then flying back to Dubai.
In an attempt to step up international pressure, Mr Haigh said the campaign would call on the British and US governments and the European Union next week to impose financial sanctions and travel bans on Sheikh Mohammed and five others he said were involved in the detention. Sheikh Latifa. Among them is the head of security in the United Arab Emirates, Major General Ahmed Nasser al-Raisi, whom the United Arab Emirates has nominated as a candidate to lead the international police organization Interpol, Mr Haigh said.
Sheikh Mohammed, ranked among the richest people in the world, has significant investments and investments in Great Britain and the United States. An avid horse enthusiast, his investments include the Godolphin racing organization, whose Essential Quality horse is the favorite to win the Kentucky Derby on May 1st.