Is Princess Latifa DEAD? Dubai ruler asked to prove daughter is still alive after secret video raises fears
The “disturbing” secret videos of Dubai ruler's 'imprisoned’ daughter Princess Latifa have reportedly worried the UK government as they fear she may have been murdered. In her recent video messages sent to her friends and later shared with BBC, the princess claimed that her life is not in her hands after being imprisoned in the United Arab Emirates after her escape plan failed. The Sun reported that a probe into the matter has now been launched by the United Nations after Latifa said commandos were sent to imprison her after she fled by boat. The commandos drugged her and took her back to detention in the UAE.
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab spoke with Sky News and said, “You can only watch the footage... and see that there is very distressing pictures of a very difficult case... I think it is concerning. We always raise human rights issues with all of our partners, including the UAE. The United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights will be following up on what we have seen, and we will be watching and monitoring that very closely indeed,” before adding, “People just on a human level want to see that she is alive and well. Of course, that is a natural instinct and we would certainly welcome that."
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Latifa is the daughter of one of the richest heads of state in the world, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. She tried to escape her home country to start a new life abroad. However, she was caught by armed men on a yacht off the coast of India and brought back and imprisoned. The video messages she sent to her friends showed her leaning against a bathroom wall. She said, “So I am in a villa. I am a hostage. This villa has been converted into a jail. All the windows are barred shut, I can't open any window. There are five policemen outside and two policewomen inside the house and I can't even go outside to get any fresh air."
The 35-year-old continued, “I am doing this video from a bathroom because it is the only room with a door that I can lock. The door to my room, I put... because I can't lock the door to my room, there is no key, I put a bottle and some boxes underneath so if somebody opens the handle it will make a loud sound and it will be like an alarm so I stop talking. So yeah, this is my situation now.” She also added, "My life is not in my hands."
One of Latifa’s friends, David Haigh, who is a human rights campaigner, has also called for action from world leaders. Haigh — who has earlier been charged and detained in the UAE over fraud allegations — stated, “We want politicians and former politicians and world leaders and celebrities and so-called influencers, the people that go to Dubai and the UAE and promote that country, to wake up and see what the reality is. People will be on those beaches in Dubai a few hundred meters away from where Latifa is essentially in solitary confinement, a hostage."
This comes months after the lawyers of Latifa urged the United Nations to take “decisive action” to protect her despite her father and the UAE's insistence that she is safe and living with her family. Leading human rights QC Rodney Dixon said in a submission to the UN Working group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) in September 2020, “We are anxious to ensure that the UN takes all possible steps now to secure the safety, health, and release of [Princess Latifa]. It is most concerning that despite the High Court judgment finding that Princess Latifa had been kidnapped, and worldwide calls for the urgent release of Latifa, she remains in captivity. Her fundamental human rights are being unjustifiably restricted and abused."