The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) stated that they will be traveling to the UAE to question the well-being of Sheikha Latifa, one of the daughters of the UAE Prime Minister, Vice President, and Emir of Dubai Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who has recently had videos released of herself saying she is forcefully held in the country following an attempt to leave the UAE in February 2018.
Rupert Colville, Spokesman for the OHCHR, indicated that while they would be raising the issues with officials from the UAE, other members and representatives of the UN human rights bodies that possess relevant mandates could also be involved in the process, once they have analyzed the newly-emerged material on the Sheikha. A spokesman from the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention expressed that they may launch an investigation of the case as soon as Sheikha Latifa’s videos have been looked into.
On 16 February, videos of the Sheikha were released to the public containing information contradicting her family’s insistence of her spending good time with the family in Dubai. A series of videos have been shared of Sheikha Latifa when she indicates that she is a hostage who fears for her life, and she did not know if she would survive the ordeal. Furthermore, she has stated the police were threatening to kill her if she did not cooperate and warned she would be in prison for her whole life without seeing the sun ever again.
Sheikha Latifa received worldwide attention after the news that she was flown back to the UAE upon being caught by Indian and Emirati commandos while trying to flee the country on a yacht by a French pilot claiming to be an ex-spy. Before being flown back to the Emirates, she had recorded a viral video explaining her reason for attempting to flee to be because of the restrictions put on her by her father. After the video, she was not seen again until the recently leaked videos which she has recorded since her return to the UAE in 2018.
