UN takes note of Princess Latifa's alleged abduction by her father; will question UAE

The United Nations has taken note of the video messages recorded by Princess Latifa of Dubai, in which she gave an account of how she has been kept imprisoned by her father in a villa jail.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has said that they will soon be questioning the United Arab Emirates regarding Sheikha Latifa, who according to their government is in the loving care of her family, reports Royal Central. Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the UN, told the BBC about Latifa's recordings: "We will certainly raise these new developments with the UAE."

"Other parts of the UN human rights system with relevant mandates may also become involved once they have analysed the new material," the statement further read. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention will be able to launch an investigation once they have analysed the videos.

The secret videos were recorded by Latifa in the washroom of the villa jail where she has been held hostage since 2018, as it was the only door she was allowed to lock. In the clips which have been shared with the BBC and Sky News, she spoke about how she is not allowed to even see the sunlight and go outside the villa which is constantly guarded, and how inhumanely her attempts to flee the country were thwarted.

The 35-year-old is one of the 30 children her father Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, shares with his six wives. She was last seen in public in December 2018, when she appeared in a stage-managed photo call with Mary Robinson, former Irish president and UN high commissioner for human rights.

While Robinson dubbed Latifa a "troubled young woman" at the time saying she was in the "loving care of her family," she later said she was "horribly tricked" at the lunch hosted by the royal family where they convinced her the princess had bipolar disorder.

"I was misled, initially by my good friend princess Haya, because she was misled," Robinson told BBC Panorama. Princess Haya, the sixth wife of the Dubai ruler, herself fled to Britain last year with their children, Jalila and Zayed, terrified for her safety.

"I was particularly tricked when the photographs went public. Horribly tricked. I mean, that was a total surprise. I was absolutely stunned," Robinson said about the family lunch where she was photographed with Latifa.