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This undated image taken from the video in an unknown location shows Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum talking in a mobile phone room. The United Nations human rights organization said on Wednesday, February 17, 2021, that it would request information from the United Arab Emirates about the daughter of the powerful leader of Dubai, after saying in video messages that she is imprisoned in a heavily guarded villa. (Campania #FreeLatifa – Tiina Jauhiainen / David Haigh via AP)
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This undated image taken from the video in an unknown location shows Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum talking in a mobile phone room. The United Nations human rights organization said on Wednesday, February 17, 2021, that it would request information from the United Arab Emirates about the daughter of the powerful leader of Dubai, after saying in video messages that she is imprisoned in a heavily guarded villa. (Campania #FreeLatifa – Tiina Jauhiainen / David Haigh via AP)
LONDON (AP) – Supporters of an emirate princess who have opposed her will for nearly three years urge Joe Biden to put pressure on her father to release the woman, saying the US president is one of the few world leaders of stature who gains her freedom.
The case of Sheikha Latifa’s grandfather, Mohammed Al Maktoum, made international headlines on Tuesday after the BBC released excerpts from video diaries it said were recorded in a locked bathroom in the Dubai villa where she was being held. Sheikha Latifa was detained by command off the coast of India in 2018, after trying to flee Dubai on a yacht.
Friends say they are concerned about the safety of Sheikha Latifa, because she has not been heard since she stopped replying 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 supporters of the princess were encouraged by Saudi Arabia’s recent decision to release Loujain al-Hathloul, a women’s rights activist detained by three years of allegations by supporters that they were politically motivated. Her release came after the Biden administration, 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 his prison are people like Joe Biden and there are very few,” Haigh told The Associated Press. “And he showed that he can do it with Saudi.”
The case is also particularly sensitive in the UK because of the economic and historical ties with Dubai and the United Arab Emirates, which have built hotels and resorts to diversify an economy once based on the exploitation of the Emirates’ energy reserves. Sheikh Mohammed is the founder of the successful Godolphin horse stable and is on friendly terms with Queen Elizabeth II of Britain.
The family life of the secret leader was launched in the news in 2019, when his estranged wife, Princess Haya, fled to London and demanded custody of his two children through British courts. Last year, a British judge ruled that the sheikh was waging a campaign of fear and intimidation against Princess Haya and ordered the abduction of two of his daughters, including Sheikh Latifa.
Former Sheikh Latifa’s personal trainer, Tiina Jauhiainen, told the AP that her friend recorded video logs on a phone that was smuggled into her about a year after her detention.
In the videos, the princess says she is “worried about my safety and my life.”
“They want propaganda from me. They wanted me to make a video and say that I am 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 I decide to set myself free, like my life. But I’m not safe at all. “
Her supporters chose to make public videos out of fear for her life, Jauhiainen said.
“We are extremely worried that she was caught on the phone and probably ended up in a worse situation than she was before,” Jauhiainen told AP. “So we hope that with this evidence, we will finally secure his freedom.”
The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Wednesday it would “pick up on these new developments in the United Arab Emirates.”
“Other parts of the UN human rights system, with relevant mandates, may also be involved after reviewing the new material or receiving specific allegations,” Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the high commissioner, told the BBC.
British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab called the videos “very painful” and said he supported a UN investigation. Raab said Britain was “concerned” but suggested the government could do little because Latifa was not a UK citizen.
Sheikh Mohammed and the royal court in Dubai have said that Latifa is safe in the loving care of her family. The UAE’s Dubai press office did not respond to a request for comment from the Associated Press.
Rodney Dixon, a lawyer for Sheikha Latifa in London, said she hopes the videos will persuade Dubai authorities to release a client who says she just wants to be free. Dixon, who helped secure the release of a British investigator who was detained in the United Arab Emirates on espionage charges in 2018, called for diplomacy.
“Of course, steps can be taken so that, as I said before, we seek to impose sanctions, to take other actions,” Dixon told the AP. “But why go on that route when we have a simple solution here, which should be followed immediately. Why prolong it further, getting involved in litigation, litigation? This never benefits anyone in the long run. We better solve it right now. “
“Do the right thing,” he said. “Release the princess.”