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| This file handout, provided by the United Arab Emirates News Agency (WAM) on December 24, 2018, shows Sheikh Latifa bin Rashid Al Maktoum (L) dining with former Irish President Mary Robinson at Latifa’s home in Dubai. Showing. © AFP=News1 © News1 Taesung Won |
The daughter of a Dubai ruler in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) who was caught trying to escape in March 2018 complained that she is currently being held hostage and is threatened with her life.
On the 17th (local time), AFP news agency reported that the BBC released a video filmed about a year after she was captured and repatriated to Dubai while trying to escape.
Latifa was captured and repatriated in the Indian Ocean in March 2018 while trying to escape to the United States via the Emirates waters aboard a yacht. After being repatriated to Dubai, he was reportedly imprisoned in Al-Air Central Prison for about three months before being transferred to a villa.
In a video released by the BBC, Latifa was seen crouching in the corner of the bathroom.
In a video filmed with a mobile phone, Latifa complained, “I am a hostage and this villa has been converted into a prison.” “There are five police officers in the house and two policemen are monitoring me, so I am threatened with safety every day.” .
He then revealed that when he was captured in the Indian Ocean and repatriated to Dubai, men bound him to immobilize him and then injected sedatives.
In December 2018, Dubai authorities released several photos of Latifa, saying that it was a commemorative photo of Latifa’s 33th birthday, and his acquaintances raised suspicion of injecting drugs, claiming that the Latifa in the picture looks blurry.
In another video released, Latifa said, “I don’t want to be held hostage in this prison villa,” and “I just want to be free.”
These videos have been confirmed to have been sent by his Finnish friend Tina Zauhinen, who is known to accompany Latifa during his escape attempt.
He said, “It has been more than nine months since the secret message from Latifa did not come,” he said, and that the video was handed over to the United Nations.
The BBC said it has independently identified where Latifa is currently in custody.
Meanwhile, Sheika Latifa is one of the 30 children of Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the vice president of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai. He already tried to escape when he was 16 years old, but he had a history of failing and being confined in a solitary room for more than three years and was often pulled out of bed and beaten.
Shortly before his escape in 2018, he claimed to have lived a life under surveillance by his father, recording the time, place, and eating of travel, and said, “If you can be free, it would be good to live while baking hamburger patties.”