Princess Latifa reappears on Instagram. According to a post on the @shinnybryn account, the daughter of the emir of Dubai who reported being held by her father is on vacation in Europe. The image shows both of them on a footbridge at Barajas airport, implying that they are or have been in Madrid. It was uploaded on the social network during Sunday night, but nothing indicates when the photograph was taken or if that moment was the beginning or the end of the stay in Madrid. The overcast sky could be consistent with the weather last weekend in the Spanish capital.
“Great vacation in Europe with Latifa. We have fun exploring, ”says @shinnybryn. It is not the first time that this user publishes photos with Latifa. Last May, it broadcast two more in different coffee shops in Dubai. @shinnybryn is Sioned Taylor, a skydiving instructor, ironman triathlete and former member of the British Royal Navy, according to Radha Stirling, the founder of the Detained in Dubai activist network, who released the video in which the Sheikh explained her attempt flight from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2018.
Following the release of the latest image, Stirling commented: “We are pleased to see that Latifa enjoys increasing freedom and time [libre] in Europe with friends after what has been a complex three-year campaign ”. However, the activist, whose organization denounces the arbitrariness of Emirati detention laws and defends those who are trapped in them, stresses that “a few photos of Latifa do not close the case.”
Latifa, 35, is one of the thirty children of Sheikh Mohamed Bin Rashid al Maktoum. In late February 2018, he tried to escape Dubai, but the yacht he was traveling on was intercepted off the coast of Goa by Emirati commandos supported by Indian forces. Officially, it was said that it had been a “rescue”, but in a previously recorded video, the princess explained that her father did not allow her to leave the emirate and that her life was very constrained by family rules.
Latifa’s case returned to the present day last February when a BBC program broadcast a series of videos that it had managed to send to several friends through a hidden mobile. After recounting her capture, the princess denounced that she had been locked in a chalet with bars on the windows and watched by police officers. He also showed his despair at seeing no way out of his situation.
So both the UN and the British Government asked the UAE to provide proof that the Sheikh was alive and well. The Emirates Embassy in London said: “His Highness is being cared for at home, supported by his family and professional doctors.” He did not convince and just a month ago a group of independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, again asked for proof of life.
