A daughter of Dubai’s powerful ruler who tried to flee the country in 2018 only to be detained by commandos in a boat off India has re-emerged in new videos published on Tuesday, saying she doesn’t know if she’s “going to survive this situation”.
The videos released by the BBC show Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum at a “jail villa”, apparently located in the UAE city-state. Her father, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, also serves as the Prime Minister and vice-president in the hereditarily ruled UAE.
“I’m a hostage,” the sheikha says in one video. “This villa has been converted into jail. “I can’t even go outside to get any fresh air,” she also said.
The BBC said Sheikha Latifa recorded the videos in a bathroom at the villa over months on a phone she secretly received about a year after her capture. “I don’t know when I’ll be released and what the conditions will be like when I’m released,” she says in a video.
