Tiina Jauhianen speaks with Demirören News Agency in Istanbul Turkey.
“WE PLANED THE ESCAPE FOR 1 YEAR”
“Freedom to Latifa” campaign Director Tiina, who explained how she met Latifa and became friends, said, “I met Latifa in 2010, then I became friends for a time. A few years later she trusted me and said that her sister Samsa was previously kidnapped while on vacation in the family property Surrey. Samsa was kidnapped and brought back to Dubai. As a result, Samsa also lives in prison. Latifa fled Dubai in 2002 when she was 16 years old and seeking help for her sister, Samsa. Latifa was caught and spent 3.5 years in prison. So they both have reasons to leave (from Dubai), as you can see. They were never allowed to read, they were not allowed to travel, they were not allowed to live an independent life. So Latifa asked me to help her leave Dubai in 2017. I did not hesitate.
KIDNAPPED BY HER FATHER FROM INTERNATIONAL WATERS
Stating that Latifa was together while fleeing Dubai in 2018, Tiina said, “I was with Latifa when she fled Dubai in 2018. Many people don’t know how long it takes us to plan all of this. We started planning in the summer of 2017, there were a lot of preparations, it was very risky, of course it was very dangerous, we could not tell our plan to our friends or family. We should have kept this secret. Then we finally left Dubai in February 2018 and came to the Goa beach of India 8 days later. Our boat was intercepted, then Latifa was abducted at gunpoint and brought back to Dubai. After all this planning, after all these hopes, all our dreams have been shattered. Because his father is very strong. He managed to manage this kidnapping from international waters, ” he noted.
INDIA AND DUBAI EXCHANGE ILLEGAL PERSONS
Stating that they think Latifa lives in a villa turned into a prison, lawyer David Haigh said, “The Indian authorities have certainly not helped. They were even part of the problem. They attacked the boat with several commandos under the coast guard flag in 2018. I was following in the background when the boat disappeared. The boat with some European citizens and VIPs disappeared from the beach of Goa. In this case, one of the things you will do is to notify the coast guard. We did that too. The Indian coast guard did not answer. He said they needed some details. We passed it a second time and we thought it was very strange why the coastguard didn’t give us more information. And then it became clear that they were involved in the incident (kidnapping). Then, the UAE’s recently held in Dubai and India ‘ We saw him exchange illegal prisoners with a wanted person named Christian Michel. So the UAE violated the extradition terms and sent this person to India. India also sent Latifa and the others back in exchange for this person. So this situation was an illegal exchange of prisoners, ” he said.
Tiina Jauhianen said, “We didn’t hear from Latifa until December 2018, when we saw her photos with Mary Robinson. We managed to send a phone call to Latifa in the spring of 2019. We contacted him. The recordings of this phone call were broadcast by the Panorama TV program ”. Stating that they applied to the United Nations for the freedom of Princess Latifa and explained this process, David Haigh said, “We first submitted the complaint to the UN in March 2018. Since then, a UN working group has started investigating the disappearance of Latifa. Last year. They made a decision in December. The UN concluded that Latifa had been detained and detained against her will. After further evidence was presented, the UN included a number of other working groups in the investigation, ” he noted.
THEY DID NOT SEND PROOF OF LIFE
In a statement Friday, the UN said the United Arab Emirates failed to provide convincing evidence that Sheikhha Latifa bint Mohammed al-Maktoum, the missing daughter of the ruler of Dubai, last seen in late 2018, is still alive. Holding a press conference in Geneva, UN spokesperson Marta Hurtado stated that she did not respond to the UAE’s demands or clarified the conditions in which Latifa was held.
