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Is Dubai Princess, Unseen in Public, Still Alive?
United Nations human rights experts expressed alarm on Tuesday that Dubai’s government has not responded to repeated requests for proof that Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed al-Maktoum, a daughter of Dubai’s billionaire ruler, is alive and well. “Evidence of life and assurances regarding her well-being are urgently required,” the U.N. analysts said in a statement, which comes…
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Interview: ‘They told me they could do anything they wanted with me’ — Princess Latifa’s friend speaks out about trying to escape Dubai with the princess and the Irish connection
The last time Tiina Jauhiainen saw her close friend Princess Latifa of Dubai, she was being dragged away kicking and screaming by armed commandos from a boat off the Indian coast. Latifa and Tiina had mounted a daring escape from the gulf state in February 2018 after the princess had her freedom heavily restricted by…
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Stark light shone on Latifa’s father, a big player in Irish horse racing
The woman who helped Princess Latifa in her attempt to escape from Dubai has called on Irish horseracing authorities to ban Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum from the sport. Princess Latifa’s friend Tiina Jauhiainen said it is time for Irish racing to take a stand on the ruler of the gulf state over his…
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Abducted, kidnapped, escaped: the ugly tale of Dubai’s princesses
It’s the stuff of a dark fairy story: imprisoned daughters, a runaway bride and an overbearing father. Recent headlines about the family of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum have sent shockwaves around the world – and there’s no happy ending in sight. Martin Fletcher investigates. As a child Marcus Essabri used to play with his…
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Mary Robinson says she made her biggest mistake in role over Princess Latifa
Former president now says she believes UAE princess is being detained against her will
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The Middle East’s Progressive Darling Abuses Its Women
In a series of recently released videos, Latifa Al Maktoum, a Dubai princess who was missing for more than a year, recounted her harrowing capture by around a dozen commandos who raided a boat she was sailing 30 miles off the coast of India. After a struggle, one tranquilized her, and she fell unconscious. The…
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Godolphin stables Sheik ‘should be banned from Melbourne Cup and Everests’, activists demand
The ruler of Dubai should not be allowed to race in the Melbourne Cup or Sydney’s Everest after his daughter claimed she was being kept hostage, human rights activists say. Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Dubai’s Prime Minister and owner of Godolphin stables, has been under pressure since his daughter Princess Latifa smuggled out a…
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Elaine Byrne: Robinson should have known better on the plight of Princess Latifa
“As a woman, I want women who have felt themselves outside history to be written back into history.” So said Mary Robinson in her famous “Mná na hÉireann” speech in 1990, when she became Ireland’s first female president. That historic speech is very much at odds with Robinson’s extraordinary lack of curiosity around the wellbeing…
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Gangsters’ paradise – Dubai’s finely spun web starts to unravel
His finely spun web has entangled the former Irish president, Mary Robinson, his estranged wife Princess Haya and the blue-bloods of the Irish Turf who tapped him for more than €5m for the redevelopment of the Curragh Racecourse. Dubai, his middle-eastern emirate, also harbours Christy Kinahan, head of the notorious drugs cartel. And it is…
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I released Princess Latifa’s ‘prison’ video. I pray it doesn’t backfire
Tiina Jauhiainen was on holiday at her parents’ house in northern Finland in the spring of 2019 when her phone lit up with a message from a stranger. The person said they had a message from Princess Latifa Al Maktoum of Dubai, Jauhiainen’s best friend. It was a heart-stopping moment. A year earlier, Jauhiainen, an…