A daughter of the powerful Dubai ruler who tried to flee the country in 2018 only to be detained by commandos on a ship off India has resurfaced in new videos released Tuesday, saying she doesn’t know if she will “survive this situation. “
Videos published by the BBC show Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum in a “prison village” apparently located in the skyscraper-studded city-state in the United Arab Emirates. His father, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, also serves as Prime Minister and Vice President in the hereditary ruled United Arab Emirates.
“I am a hostage,” says the sheikh in a video. “This village has become a prison.
“I can’t even go out for fresh air,” he said as well.
The government’s Dubai Media Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
In 2018, the AP reported how a friend and a former French spy helped Sheikha Latifa escape by boat, only to be captured off India.
The BBC said Sheikha Latifa recorded the videos in a villa bathroom for months on a phone that he secretly received about a year after his capture.
“I don’t know when they will release me and what the conditions will be when they release me,” he says in a video. “Every day I worry about my safety and my life.”
The videos, part of an episode of the BBC’s “Panorama” investigative series airing on Tuesday, also include an interview with Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Robinson appeared in photos with Latifa published by Emirati officials after the sheikh’s return to Dubai in 2018.
Robinson told the BBC that the Emirati authorities misled her into telling her that Latifa was a troubled young woman who was safe in the care of her family.
“I was particularly misled when the photographs were made public,” Robinson told the BBC. “That was a total surprise…. I was absolutely stunned. “
The dramatic flight by sea and its aftermath intruded on the carefully controlled image maintained by the family of Sheikh Mohammed, who is believed to have several dozen children from various wives. Some of his sons and daughters feature prominently in local media and online, but others are rarely seen. Sheikha Latifa was widely known for her love of skydiving before 2018.
Sheikh Mohammed’s family life became a public affair again in 2020. Later, a British judge ruled that the Sheikh had carried out 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 his ex-wife, Princess Haya, daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan.
Sheikh Mohammed is the founder of the successful Godolphin horse racing stable and on friendly terms with Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain. In 2019, he received a trophy from the queen after one of his horses won a race at Royal Ascot.
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She is a freelance blogger, writer, and speaker, and writes for various entertainment magazines.