The UN warned Dubai’s ruling family that it intended to publicise concerns that Princess Latifa may have been killed days before photographs of her with Mary Robinson surfaced.
Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed al-Maktoum, daughter of Dubai’s ruler, tried to flee in March last year, claiming that she had suffered years of abuse at the hands of her family.
Nine days before Mary Robinson was pictured with Princess Latifa in the first evidence the runaway princess was still alive, the UN warned Dubai it was about to go public over her disappearance. The UN working group on enforced and Involuntary dissonances made it clear – they thought the princess was dead and wanted answers.
The announcement follows Latifa’s lawyer and representative David Haigh and Tiina Jauhiainentogether with leading human rights barrister Toby Cadman filing a UN complaint with the UN working group in April 2018.
The Times reported “Human rights groups [including Detained International] had described Mrs Robinson, also a former UN high commissioner for human rights, as a “willing pawn” for the family that rules the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after she claimed that Sheikha Latifa was a “troubled young woman” who needed psychiatric help. Correspondence seen by The Times shows that the UN’s working group on enforced or involuntary disappearances wrote to Dubai’s ruling family on December 6 with information it had received about Sheikha Latifa.”
Princess Latifa’s lawyer, Stirling Haigh and Detained International founder David Haigh said “We are thankful to the UN working group on Enforced and Involuntary Dissapearnces for taking the case of Princess Latifa and supporting her, it is thanks in part to their work and the media attention that the UAE were forced to take the unprecedented step of confirming it had abducted Latifa” Haigh continued “now that we know Princess Latifa is alive, we are all focused, with Amnesty and Human Rights Watch and millions of supporters around the world on securing her freedom”
Read the full article by Peter O’Dwyer.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/e7899f0c-444a-11e9-924d-9729bcd51a7f
