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Free Latifa Campaign disbanded after Dubai princess appears to be in Iceland

Just Earth News | @justearthnews | 10 Aug 2021, 02:18 pm Print

Free Latifa Campaign disbanded after Dubai princess appears to be in Iceland Sheikha Latifa

Image instagrammed by shinnybryn

The campaign to free princess Latifa, the daughter of the ruler of Dubai, has been disbanded after she appeared in a picture in Iceland, according to media reports.

The image was posted on Instagram by a British woman, who has appeared in the previous images with Latifa.

According to a BBC report, it is still not clear to what extent Latifa is being allowed to act according to her free will.

She had made videos in order to to convey to the rest of the world that she is being held captive by her father.

BBC had broadcast the footage earlier this year, which had elicited an international outcry.

The UN had sought proof that the 35-year-old princess was still alive.

Several photos of Latifa have emerged since then which were posted by Sioned Taylor who was also seen with her in a picture in June taken in Madrid Airport.

The Free Latifa campaign issued a statement on Monday that the princess has been able to meet her cousin Marcuss Essabri, the man in the photo taken in Iceland, said the BBC report.

"Following the meeting... it has been decided that the most appropriate step at this time is to close the Free Latifa campaign," it said, reported BBC.

"The primary purpose of [the] campaign was to see Latifa free leading the life she chooses for herself," the statement added. "We have clearly gone a long way towards achieving that goal."

Mr Essabri, whose aunt is Latifa's mother, said: "[We] had an emotional reunion... It was reassuring to see her so happy, well and focused on her plans."

David Haigh, co-founder of the Free Latifa campaign, told the BBC that the princess's current situation was "the best position she has been in in terms of freedom [...] for two decades".

But he added: "It's quite right and understandable that everyone needs to look at everything that's happening now with extreme caution and monitor the situation closely."

Background

In February BBC had released a video in which Latifa said she was being held against her will in a barricaded villa.

The BBC showed the video as part of the BBC Panorama current affairs programme.

"BBC Panorama have obtained secret video messages allegedly showing the daughter of Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum imprisoned against her will," it said.

On February 16, the BBC released a number of videos which showed Sheikha Latifa saying that she had been held against her will at a "jail villa" in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Sheikha Latifa, 35, is one of the 25 children of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the current Prime Minister and Vice-President of the country.

"I am a hostage and this villa has been converted into a jail," Latifa had said in the released video.

The video showed her saying she was making the video in the bathroom, the only place she could lock herself into, adding  "All the windows are barred shut, I can't open any window," the report stated.

He told the BBC that Britain is concerned about the footage and the United Nations will follow up on the video that poses questions on Latifa's safety.

The princess drew international attention with her daring escape from the middle-eastern county. On February 24, 2018 she escaped UAE with her Finnish friend Tiina Jauhiainen left Dubai in a car and crossed into Oman. She left with her friend in jet ski and met former French intelligence officer Herve Jaubert and his crew on a yacht. Two days later, she also alerted British human rights lawyer David Haigh of Detained International of her escape. However, the yacht in which she was travelling was intercepted by Indian authorities off the coast of Goa.

BBC's videos also include an interview of Mary Robinson, a former president of Ireland and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in which she had said she was told by the Emirati authorities that Latifa was a troubled young woman in the care of her family.

BBC said the secret videos document her alleged kidnapping and imprisonment which has lasted over a year.

On December 24, 2018, they had released three low resolution videos of Robinson meeting her.

After the meeting Robinson had told BBC Radio 4 that Latifa was a troubled young woman.

The attempted escape of the princess was reported widely by the international media, the carefully managed family image of Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed was exposed.

According to the report, the Free Latifa campaign, that has been lobbying for her release, said it had surreptitiously sent a mobile phone to Latifa, which she had used to send a series of secret video messages over the last two years.

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