Dubai says Princess Latifa is ‘at home’ after UN asks for ‘proof of life’
- Earlier this week the BBC released excerpts from video diaries that Sheikha Latifa said were recorded inside the Dubai villa where she was being held
- The princess was detained by commandos off the coast of India in 2018 after she tried to flee the UAE in a yacht
Dubai’s royal family insisted Friday that Sheikha Latifa was being “cared for at home” after the United Nations demanded proof that she was still alive following “disturbing” footage aired this week.
The UN Human Rights Office said it had asked the United Arab Emirates for evidence after the BBC published video shot by the daughter of Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum saying she was being held captive and feared for her life.
Sheikh Mohammed is the vice-president and prime minister of the UAE, of which Dubai is one of the seven emirates.
His 35-year-old daughter has not been seen in public since a foiled attempt to escape from the emirate in March 2018.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said it had spoken to the UAE’s diplomatic mission in Geneva on Thursday.
“We did raise the case yesterday with the permanent mission here in Geneva,” OHCHR spokeswoman Liz Throssell told reporters. “We did ask for proof of life.”
The BBC said the clips it broadcast on Tuesday were filmed roughly a year after Latifa was captured and returned to Dubai, showing her crouched in a corner of what she says is a bathroom.