Sheika Latifa Dubai princess is held hostage, her video state

Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed al-Maktoum, 35, says in one self-recorded phone video “Every day, I’m worried about my safety and my life. I don’t really know if I’m going to survive this situation,”. She is the princess-daughter of Dubai’s ruler, who says she is held, hostage.

A transcript was provided by David Haigh, Tiina Jauhiainen, and Marcus Essabri, Britain-based advocates working on her behalf who hope the Biden administration’s focus on human rights will pressure Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum who is also the United Arab Emirates’ billionaire prime minister to release his daughter.

Sheikha Latifa says in the video “The police threaten me that they would take me outside and shoot me if I didn’t cooperate with them,”. “They also threatened me that I would be in prison my whole life and I’ll never see the sun again,” she added

According to Sheikha Latifa’s family statement, she is completely fine and recuperating safely at home after an ordeal that they insist was a failed abduction of the then 33-year-old royal.

The video clips were filmed in the bathroom of a barricaded villa in Dubai where Sheikha Latifa says she is being held against her will and without access to the outside world. The footage was aired separately as part of a BBC investigation on Tuesday night.

“I am a hostage and this villa has been converted into a jail,” she says in the video.