Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is one of the richest and most powerful leaders in the world. Yet his daughter, Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum, claims she's being held in the UAE against her will.
Princess Latifa of Dubai, as she is most commonly known, last tried to leave the UAE in 2018. She was forcibly taken back after being discovered in India with friends. Since then, the princess has not been publicly seen.
Newly released secret cellphone footage shows a grim reality about what's happened to the princess. She says she is staying in a villa that's been turned into a prison and doesn't know if or when she'll ever see the outside again.
A new documentary by the BBC is looking into the alarming disappearance of Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum. Princess Latifa is the daughter of UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The UAE, Dubai, and spokespeople for the prime minister have assured that Latifa is alive and being well cared for by family.
In 2018, Latifa tried to leave the UAE to start her life over. She boarded a yacht with French businessman Hervé Jaubert and her friend Tiina Jauhiainen. The yacht was raided by Indian and Emirati forces off the coast of India. Latifa was forced back to Dubai.
"I'm not allowed to drive, I'm not allowed to travel or leave Dubai at all," Latifa said in a video recorded before her attempt to flee, the BBC reports.
"I haven't left the country since 2000. I've been asking a lot to just go travelling, to study, to do anything normal. They don't let me. I need to leave."
In videos recorded after her capture and return to Dubai that were recently unveiled by the BBC, Latifa recalls the moment she was captured.
"I was fighting, and this guy came with a small pouch and he took out the needle and he injected me in my arm," she reveals. From there, she was taken on an Indian military ship.
"The commandos carried me through this corridor, and to a big room, and there was in front of me like maybe four or five generals," she continues.
"I'm repeating to them 'my name's Latifa al Maktoum I don't want to go Dubai, I want to get asylum. I was in international waters, you should let me go.'
"He grabs me. Lifts me up. Kicking and fighting, he's much bigger than me. So I see that his sleeve is rolled up and arm exposed. I had one shot. Bit as hard as I can, and shake my head. And he screamed."
"I just felt really sad at that point. I felt everything I was working on for so many years to get my freedom was gone. And I've been here ever since, by myself, so solitary confinement. No access to medical help, no trial, no charge, nothing," she says.
Tiina didn't hear from Latifa again until 2019. They began recording and transmitting video messages that she's now releasing publicly.
"I'm doing this video from a bathroom, because this is the only room with a door I can lock. I'm a hostage. I am not free. I'm enslaved in this jail. My life is not in my hands," Latifa says in one of the more recent videos.
"I am in a villa, and this villa has been converted into jail. All the windows are barred shut. There's five policemen outside and two policewomen inside the house. And I can't even go outside to get any fresh air."
Some who don't believe Latifa's story have argued that you can't be held prisoner in a villa miles from a luxury beachfront. Still, her fear is palpable in the videos.
"Every day I am worried about my safety and my life. I don't really know if I'm going to survive this situation. The police threatened me that I'll be in prison my whole life and I'll never see the sun again. So I'm not safe here," she says in a recording.
Though she knows these videos going public put her in further danger, she wants people to know her truth. "For me it's simple, it's like, am I free or am I not free? So OK, the world is going to know that I'm not free," she says.
"Anybody who cares is going to know that I'm not free, and I'm not going to go along with their propaganda. That's just how I am."
There have been some moves made, with the UN and other international organizations showing interest in Latifa's circumstances. Since the videos, her means of contacting the outside world have again been cut off. Her friends hope that releasing these videos will lead to her release and ability to live as a free 35-year-old woman.
