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The footage of Princess Latifa Al Maktoum claims that she was held hostage inside a villa for the past two years, with no access to medical aid and windows barred shut. Princess Latifa is the daughter of the UAE’s billionaire Prime Minister Mohammed Al Maktoum, speaking from inside a locked bathroom recently released to the public on social media.
The Princess attempted to flee the UAE in 2018 in a yacht off the Indian coastline, a plan articulated for about seven years. However, she was brought back to Dubai by a raid of Indian and Emirati forces sent by her father. This was her second failed attempt to leave the country. Her first attempt was in 2002, as a teenager.
Latifa’s friend, Tiina Jauhianien, was contacted by someone who helped the two reconnect secretly, and Jauhianien was able to help Latifa procure a phone. However, they lost contact a few months previously. Latifa had recorded numerous videos for her friend, who decided to release her narrative to the rest of the world.
Latifa’s friend Jauhianien expressed her concern saying, “She is so pale, she hasn’t seen sunlight for months. She can basically move just from her room to the kitchen and back.”
In her video, the Princess states, “They want me to break [any] propaganda from the media. They wanted me to make a video saying that I am here happily and voluntarily, but I refused to.” For the last two years, the UAE government said that the Princess was calmly living with the royal family ever since her escape attempt in 2018.
“People have their own freedom, even if the royal family has some restrictions, it is not right for her father to lock her up so that she doesn’t run away,” claims David J, a freshman at AISG.
Also, the Princess claimed that the policemen guarding her villa have threatened to shoot her, if she does not cooperate with them, and have told her that she would stay imprisoned her whole life.
“After hearing about this, many people should think twice about visiting the country,” said Elsie Z, a freshman at AISG.
The Prime Minister has arranged three abductions of his children in the past. Including Latifa’s attempted escape in 2018 and Princess Shamsa Al Maktoum’s attempted escape to Cambridge, the UK, during the summer of 2000. She was abducted and forced into a car by her father’s subordinates, and then driven to her father’s private property. She was then put in a helicopter to France and then on a jet back to Dubai.
Additionally, Princess Haya, the Prime Minister’s sixth wife, and a Jordanian Princess fled from Dubai to the UK with her two children in 2019. She sought wardship over her two children, Princess Al Jalila and Prince Al Zayed, who she feared would be kidnapped by her husband’s men.
Princess Latifa’s situation is considered a breach of human rights by many organizations such as the UN. It makes one question what makes monarchs globally adamant about leaving their family, and what their lives must be like when spectators aren’t looking. Recently, many monarchs globally have decided to break ties from their respective monarchies. This including members from the British and Japanese monarchy.
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