Dubai princesses flee from their father’s gilded cage.
Unable to bear the suffocating life under house arrest in the royal family, Latifa, Shamsa and Haya all tried to escape from the “gilded cage”.
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On February 16, BBC shared a video of Princess Latifa bint Mohammed al-Maktoum – the second daughter of Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, Emir of Dubai and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Accordingly, Latifa said she was being held in “a prison-like villa” and had no medical assistance. Previously, in March 2018, Latifa was captured in the waters off the coast of India during a failed escape from Dubai, according to CNN.
Not only the 35-year-old princess, Shamsa and Haya are also members of the Dubai royal family who have tried to escape from a life of material luxury but without freedom.
Two failed escape attempts
In 2002, Latifa tried to escape but failed and was caught at the border. Confiding in a video, the princess said that the punishment for that action was being detained for 3 years, not allowed to leave the palace and enduring beatings and torture.
In 2011, Latifa began her second escape plan by befriending Herve Jaubert – a former French officer. Jaubert said he had experience escaping Dubai by sea and fleeing to India.
“The first time I received an email from Latifa, I was cautious, afraid it was a trap and told her to check to make sure she was not lying,” Jaubert told the BBC.
Latifa was then convinced of her escape plan and exchanged letters every 2-3 days for a long time. In the letters, the two discussed their escape plan, and the Dubai princess also talked about the hidden corners of the luxurious life of the royal family.
“I was abused and oppressed all my life. Women were treated as inferiors. My father had no right to do what he did to all of us,” the princess said.
In 2014, Latifa met Tiina Jauhiainen, who taught capoeira, a Brazilian martial art, to the royal family. The two quickly became close, and Jauhiainen also assisted in the princess’s escape.
“Latifa was allowed to spend money but she was not allowed to go to school, work, travel or even visit her friends. She was depressed because of life in the palace,” Jauhiainen told The Guardian about her friend.
In March 2018, Latifa and the female martial artist drove across the border to Oman, out into international waters, but again failed to escape.
Sheikha Shamsa al-Maktoum is believed to have been sentenced to death under royal Islamic law for treason.
Another princess who tried to flee the royal family was Sheikha Shamsa al-Maktoum, Latifa’s older sister.
In 2000, after fleeing the Dubai royal residence in Surrey, England, for more than a month, she was kidnapped in Cambridgeshire by the Dubai ruler’s men.
According to a letter Shamsa sent to her lawyer in England, she was secretly smuggled out of the country after being arrested in Cambridge on the orders of the Dubai ruler.
Shamsa has been missing since then. The case has been described as a clear kidnapping but has never been properly investigated by British police.
Sheikha Shamsa al-Maktoum is believed to have been sentenced to death under royal Islamic law for treason.
