Maria Laura Avignolo
02/19/2021 3:43 PM
Clarín.com
World
Updated 02/19/2021 3:43 PM
Dubai has begun to feel pressure to explain the fate of Latifa, the missing daughter of the emir, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum.
On Friday morning, the United Nations ordered to "give proof of life" to the princess, who disappeared
after being kidnapped on a yacht by the Indian special forces,
when she fled the Emirate in 2015. Hours later, a succinct The Emirate's diplomatic statement maintains that "she is being cared for by her families, by professionals" and at some point, "she will be able to return to public life."
The UAE Embassy in London responded with the following statement from the family: "In response to media reports on Sheikha Latifa, we want to thank those who have expressed concern for his well-being, despite the coverage that it certainly does not reflect the real position ”they argued.
"
Her family has confirmed that Her Highness is being cared for at home, supported by her family and medical professionals
." "She continues to improve and we hope that she will return to public life at the appropriate time." They concluded, without further elaboration.
In videos on
Sky News
and the
BBC
published for the first time this week, Princess Latifa accused her father of holding her "hostage" in Dubai, following attempts to flee the United Arab Emirates (UAE). With a picture Pale and from the bathroom of a guarded royal villa in Dubai, she asked the world for help.
"I am a hostage and this village has become a prison," Latifa denounced.
His words generated an uncomfortable diplomatic crisis between Great Britain and Dubai, one of its main buyers of arms and with the Emir as a great investor, with his racehorses, palaces, lands and a great personal friend of the queen.
But there are more videos about Latifa, in the hands of friends who are campaigning for her freedom, which may appear in the next few days.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (R), Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE with his wife, Princess Haya bint Al Hussein (L) EFE
THE UN INTERVENES
From Geneva, the UN Human Rights Commission explained on Friday that they had "raised their concerns about the situation in the face of the disturbing emergency that emerged this week," said Liz Throsell, the Commission's spokeswoman.
“We require information and clarifications on the current situation of Sheika Latifa.
Given our serious concerns about Sheika Latifa, we demand a response from the government as a matter of priority.
We have also requested a proof of life, "said the spokeswoman, after clarifying that they will monitor" the situation closely. "
The high commissioner is former Chilean President Michele Bachelet.
PROOF OF LIFE AND FREEDOM
The statement from the Dubai embassy in London is not enough.
"
People want to see that Princess Latifa is alive and well, alive and well,"
said Chancellor Dominique Raab, demanding "proof of life", which the Emir has not provided. But he considered that sanctions or inhibition of the Emir's assets did not they are lightly adopted. "There is a strict legal framework," he explained.
Tiina Jauhiainen, her Finnish teacher in Dubai, said it is time for “the world's leaders to speak up. We hope to find out what happened to Latifa and secure her freedom.
The queen is a close friend of the sheik.
She must be aware of what is happening with her daughter and we welcome her intervention.
People must speak
.
The United Nations must speak up because this is clearly an abuse of human rights.
This can't go on forever.
Something must be done to free Latifa ”, he urged from Finland.
Then she denounced that the Emirati services had "tapped" the telephone with which she spoke with the princess.
A HOSTAGE ON THE ISLAND
According to the evidence,
Princess Latifa has been detained since 2018.
In her statements, she has said that she
has been drugged, tortured and isolated as a hostage. No one has heard anything from her for 9 months,
when a cell phone that her friends They had managed to get into the house, he gave no more news, they think they discovered it.
He lives in a royal villa, on a luxurious artificial island where Diego Maradona lived, very close to where tourists stroll in Dubai.
It is not the first time that the powerful Emir has carried out human rights violations in Britain.
In 2011, his other daughter, Shamsa, disappeared from the streets of Cambridge
.
He had fled the emir's mansion in Sussex and nothing of his life was ever heard.
The police never got to know his whereabouts.
Sheikha Shamsa al Maktoum ran away at age 19 during the family's annual holiday in the UK.
He allegedly went to see an immigration lawyer in London, for advice
on how to stay in Britain.
He then claimed that it was his father who sent "four Arabs to catch me, they were carrying weapons and threatening me."
Sheikh Mohammed told a court that "Shamsa was vulnerable and just a child."
She felt "overwhelming relief" when they found her.
But she has not been seen in public since.
With
his six wives and at least 25 children
, the Emir has received complaints from three wives who cannot see their children because of his decision or enter Dubai.
THE FEAR OF THE PRINCESS HAYA
The latest scandal was when Haya, the Jordanian princess and sister of King Abdallah, the last wife of the Emir of Dubai, arrived in London in 2019.
She fled in a private plane, from Dubai, with her two children, for fear of running the same ending as Latifa.
Princess Haya, the UN humanitarian ambassador, Olympic equestrian champion and personal friend of the British sovereign, had convinced Mary Robinson, the former chair of the UN Human Rights Commission and former president of Ireland, to travel to Dubai to see the status of Latifa.
Robinson had lunch with her but did not ask about her trauma.
Princess Haya had explained that Latifa "was bipolar."
In a
BBC
documentary
,
Robinson admitted that "she had been tricked by Princess Haya and that she had been tricked too."
Princess Haya is in exile in London, in a mansion bought by the emir in Kensington Palace Gardens.
She lives in fear of being kidnapped
, after a weapon appeared twice on her pillow and her security was infiltrated.
He obtained custody of his two children by decision of the British courts.
The emir wanted to marry them "by arrangement" in Dubai.
The UN Human Rights Commission asked for proof that Latifa is alive.
The statement from the embassy in London was the answer.
Princess Latifa is the daughter of one of the richest men in the world, the billionaire ruler of Dubai Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, lord and owner of the Emirate.
THE CRISIS CONTINUES
The embassy statement is not enough to demonstrate the status of Latifa al Maktoum.
Everyone wants to see their images, their passport in hand and the freedom to move wherever they want, at 35 years old.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson joined other world leaders in asking for information on his well-being.
The sheikh has always maintained that
Latifa was tricked by criminals into escaping, they
wanted money and that returning her to Dubai was a rescue mission.
What happened to Latifa was examined during a High Court battle between the sheikh and his now ex-wife, Princess Haya bint al Hussein.
In findings released in March 2020, Sir Andrew McFarlane, who is presiding over the case, accepted that the sheikh had been "responsible for the kidnapping and detention of Latifa."
The chief British judge also accepted the princess's account that she had been
robbed, beaten and detained after a previous escape in 2002.
The eyewitness testimony of Princess Haya was also accepted.
He told the court that he visited Latifa in December 2018 and found that "she was held against her will. She was locked up in a house, guarded inside and out."
Princess Haya fled to the UK in 2019, with her children, after she says she became suspicious of what had happened to Shamsa and Latifa. The Sheikh and Emir of Dubai rejected the sentence, accusing her of bias.
"As Head of Government, I was unable to participate in the Court's investigation process. This has resulted in the publication of a 'quick determination' judgment, which inevitably
tells only one side of the story,
" said the Emir, who did not testify at trial.
Look also
The daughter of the emir of Dubai denounces a kidnapping and a diplomatic crisis breaks out with Great Britain
