The daughter of the ruler of Dubai says she is being held "hostage" at a villa in Dubai, two years after her attempt to escape was thwarted by her father.
Princess Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum, the daughter of the ruler of Dubai and Vice President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, was trying to leave Dubai on a yacht in February 2018, when the UAE authorities The Arabs captured it in the Indian Ocean.
Almost a year later, a statement was released through the state-run news agency Wam, saying Latifa "was at home and living with her family in Dubai", along with photos of her with the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson.
However, BBC Panorama has provided videos allegedly from Latifa, taken from a "smuggled" phone at the villa where she is being held in Dubai.
"I am a hostage, I am not free. I am a prisoner in this prison. My life is not in my hands," she was heard saying.
This comes after Robinson's statement, which he said was "deceived" by the kings of Dubai.
BBC Panorama says it has "independently verified" the details of where Latifa was being held when she sent the videos. They say she was being guarded by about 30 police officers, working in rotation, inside and outside the villa, which has "closed the windows" and it is not known if it is over there.
In the footage, which will be shown tonight at 8:30 pm as a special BBC edition entitled "Missing Person".
Latifa says she has been held in "isolated isolation" since her attempt to flee Dubai three years ago. At the time, her friend Tiina Jauhiainen had helped her board a ship in an attempt to leave the UAE to start a new life abroad.
A year later, Jauhiainen says she was contacted by an unnamed person who helped her assist the princess with a phone call.
"She is so pale, she has not seen the sun for months. She can only move from her room to the kitchen and back," says Jauhiainen.
