Princess Latifa seen alive in Dubai for first time since ‘hostage’ videos emerged months ago

Princess Latifa, 35, made headlines in February after secret videos aired on BBC’s Panorama program of her claiming her father, billionaire ruler of the UAE Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, had been holding her in solitary confinement after thwarting an escape bid she made in 2018.

In the diary video, she claimed: “I’m a hostage, I’m not free. I am imprisoned in this jail. My life is not in my hands.”
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Sheikh Mohammed, 71, has denied these claims and said his daughter, who is thought to be one of at least 30 of the Dubai ruler’s children, is safe and well.

In a bizarre twist, Latifa has been seen for the first time in months in photos posted from the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai, where she was accompanied by two female friends, as well as a selfie of her dining at luxurious seafood restaurant, BiCE Mare.

The images were posted by one of the women in the photo on her now-private page on Thursday, with cinema advertising in the background of one of the photos showing the film Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, which was released in the UAE on May 13, 2021.

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It comes after Latifa said in her smuggled diary videos that she was attacked by commandos and drugged when she tried to escape from Dubai three years ago.

Sitting on the bathroom floor – where she said she filmed the video as it was the only room in the house with a lock on the door – she whispered to the ­camera: “I’m a hostage and this villa has been converted into a jail. All the windows are barred shut.

“There’s five policemen outside and two policewomen inside the house. And I can’t even go outside to get fresh air.

“I don’t know when I’ll be released and what the conditions will be like when I’m released. Every day I’m worried about my safety and my life. I don’t really know if I’m going to survive this.”

After the shocking videos emerged in February, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab described the situation as “very ­distressing” and said the world wants proof “she is alive and well”.

Latifa’s plight has been making headlines for some time, after a British judge ruled in court in March 2020 that Sheikh Mohammed did have her kidnapped from a boat off international waters in India in 2018.

Latifa’s sister, Shamsa, ran away in 2000, before being captured later in Cambridge, UK and taken back to the UAE.

After she alleged that she had been kidnapped in the UK, the police officer in charge of the case was denied permission to visit Dubai, and the investigation was dropped.