“I Was Particularly Tricked When The Photographs Went Public”

at

This afternoon.

BBC Panorama has obtained secret video messages showing the daughter of Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum imprisoned against her will.

Footage shows Princess Latifa saying she has been “a hostage” in “solitary confinement” for over a year “with no access to medical help”.

Meanwhile, Ex-UN rights envoy Mary Robinson, who had described Latifa as a “troubled young woman” after meeting her in 2018, now says she was “horribly tricked” by the princess’s family.

Via BBC:

The former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and president of Ireland has joined calls for international action to establish Latifa’s current condition and whereabouts.

“I continue to be very worried about Latifa. Things have moved on. And so I think it should be investigated,” she said.

Before her 2018 escape attempt, Latifa recorded another video which was posted on YouTube after her capture. “If you are watching this video, it’s not such a good thing, either I’m dead or I’m in a very, very, very bad situation,” she said.

It was this that sparked huge international concern and calls for her release. The UAE came under intense pressure to account for her and a meeting was arranged with Ms Robinson.

She flew to Dubai in December 2018 at the request of her friend, Princess Haya, for a lunch at which Latifa was also present.

Via BBC:

Ms Robinson told Panorama she and Princess Haya had earlier been presented with details of Latifa’s bipolar disorder, a condition she does not have.

She said she did not ask Latifa about her situation because she did not want to “increase the trauma” of Latifa’s “condition“.

Nine days after the lunch, the UAE’s foreign ministry published photographs of Ms Robinson with Latifa, which it said was proof that the princess was safe and well.

Ms Robinson said: “I was particularly tricked when the photographs went public. That was a total surprise… I was absolutely stunned.”

Princess Latifa: ‘Hostage’ ordeal of Dubai ruler’s daughter revealed (BBC)

Previously: Princess Latifa on Broadsheet

 

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30 thoughts on ““I Was Particularly Tricked When The Photographs Went Public”

  1. Lilly

    What difference did it make whether or not the photos went public. It’s all about her reputation, isn’t it. She could have insisted that Princess Haya travel with Latifa to a neutral spot, such as Ireland to prove she was still alive. Instead she took to the airwaves after the fact and tried to defend the indefensible.

    1. Lilly

      Or rather, Princess Haya took to the airwaves on her behalf when she gave that mad interview to Marian Finucane in January 2019.

  2. Lilly

    Was she also horribly tricked into describing Latifa as a ‘troubled young woman’? Where were her critical faculties then? She’d be troubled too if she were drugged and under house arrest for years on end with no release in sight.

    1. GiggidyGoo

      +1
      And hiding behind the ‘it was a private matter’ phrase.

      From a 2018 report……

      “The dilemma was that Latifa is vulnerable, she’s troubled. She made a video that she now regrets and she planned an escape, or was part of a plan of escape,” said Robinson, who told how she had lunch with Latifa, Hayat and others and was able to “assess the situation”.

      “Mrs Robinson appears to have spent a couple of hours with Sheikha Latifa, and despite having no formal medical or psychiatric training, has somehow diagnosed her condition and concluded that she is receiving appropriate treatment. It is unclear on what basis Mrs Robinson considers herself qualified to do so,”

      1. Lilly

        If she had bothered her backside typing Latifa’s name into YouTube before her all-expenses-paid trip to Dubai, she could have watched the video detailing her plans for escape. And no one with half a brain who watched that video could have doubted her veracity.

  3. TypeONegative

    She wiped out her credibility for me, not just with the photographs but her handwaving statements about Latifa’s situation. God she may as well have read from a script, what on earth was she thinking

    1. ian-oh

      With Mary, I would not be surprised if she was thinking of currency symbols:

      €, £, $ or even some more exotic ones like د.إ

  4. ian-oh

    UAE is a fupping barbarian feudal state with lots of cash.

    Depressing to think that they have put a probe around Mars.

    I hope the only time I ever visit Dubai will be Slim Pickens style, á la Doctor Strangelove.

    YEE-HAW!

  5. H

    Very ill-judged of Mary to get herself involved in this affair, like others on here have already, she lost all her credibility when she stepped on to that plane. You would think that a former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights would have a bit more nous about her,

  6. Lurch

    Incredible woman. A huge shame she was hoodwinked in this case.
    Judging by a few of the commentators on here you’d never think that she has spent her whole life fighting for minorities and the oppresssed. Always at the forefront of human rights battles; gay rights, reproductive rights, workers rights, apartheid, climate etc. etc. She must be the most featured person on “Reeling in the Years”. with her megaphone in hand. An absolute legend, no doubt about it. Absolutely deserves the benefit of the doubt.

  7. Truth in the News

    We need to look also at the expensive vanity project currently being erected on property
    previously owned by her brother named. The Mary Robinson Center in Ballina funded by
    public money through the auspices of Mayo County Council, what we have is the exclusive
    right of entitlement by a certain elite in Irish Society.

    1. Danny Dullea

      “Saint” Mary Robinson, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. She of the halo of Climate Foundation. She of the struggles for gay rights, reproductive rights, workers rights, apartheid, climate… all over the world… except in her home county of Mayo. The people of ShelltoSea & Pobal Chill Chomáin  asked her and asked her again and again for help & support to stop the Corrib Gas project. She never said peep. Ever.
      Holy Mother of Hypocrisy!

  8. Danny Dullea

    “Saint” Mary Robinson, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. She of the halo of Climate Foundation. She of the struggles for gay rights, reproductive rights, workers rights, apartheid, climate… all over the world… except in her home county of Mayo. The people of ShelltoSea & Pobal Chill Chomáin  asked her and asked her again and again for help & support to stop the Corrib Gas project. She never said peep. Ever.
    Holy Mother of Hypocrisy!

  9. Scundered

    Too many years living in a bubble from the real world makes one a tad gullible to it, still, the truth came out at least.

  10. Lilly

    “Mary Robinson’s unwillingness to help Latifa raises questions about how much was she paid for participating in this Dubai government propaganda and about her role in supporting Latifa’s abductors.”

    freelatifa.com/mary-robinson-2

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