Princess Latifa Al Maktoum, daughter of Dubai's ruler, has secretly recorded video messages from detention alleging she is being held hostage by her father. The footage, shared with BBC Panorama, shows the princess claiming she was drugged by commandos during a failed escape attempt in 2018 and forcibly returned to Dubai.
In the videos, recorded on a hidden phone in a locked bathroom about a year after her capture, Latifa describes how she was tranquillised while being carried onto a private jet and did not wake until landing in Dubai. She says she is being held alone in a villa with barred windows and police guards, without access to medical or legal help.
Latifa's friends Tiina Jauhiainen, Marcus Essabri and David Haigh released the messages out of concern for her safety. The group, behind the Free Latifa campaign, had managed to establish secret contact with her. Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, who previously described Latifa as a 'troubled young woman' after meeting her in 2018, now says she was 'horribly tricked' by the family and calls for an international investigation.
Princess Latifa first attempted to flee at the age of 16. Her 2018 escape involved an inflatable boat and jet ski to reach a yacht in international waters, but commandos boarded the vessel off India eight days later. Before the attempt, she recorded a video warning: 'If you are watching this video, it's not such a good thing, either I'm dead or I'm in a very, very, very bad situation.'
Her father, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, is one of the world's wealthiest heads of state and faces criticism over human rights records. The UAE maintains she is safe in family care. Friends are urging the United Nations to intervene to establish her condition and whereabouts.
