The daughter of Dubai’s ruler says she is being held captive and fears for her life after a failed attempt to flee, according to footage broadcast on Tuesday. Sheikha Latifa has not been seen in public since she attempted to escape from the Emirate by sea in March 2018, reports AFP.
The BBC aired clips it said were filmed roughly a year after she was captured and returned to Dubai showing her crouched in a corner of what she says is a bathroom. “I’m a hostage and this villa has been converted into a jail,” she says in one cellphone video.
“There’s five policemen outside and two policewomen inside the house. Every day I am worried about my safety and my life.”
In another video, Latifa says her situation is “getting more desperate every day”. “I don’t want to be a hostage in this jail villa. I just want to be free,” she says. The BBC released the video excerpts ahead of its investigative news programme “Panorama”.
Sky News reported that it had also received the videos but had been unable to contact Latifa for the last nine months. The broadcasters reported that the videos have now been passed to the United Nations by her friends.
The Dubai authorities did not respond to a request for comment. Latifa’s father, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, is vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a constituent.
