Sheikha Latifa: Former UN rights chief criticised for describing Dubai princess who fled kingdom as ‘troubled’

The former UN human rights chief has been criticised for describing the daughter of Dubai’s ruler as “troubled” after she was reportedly forcibly returned to the kingdom after fleeing months earlier.

Mary Robinson met with Sheikha Latifa on 15 December and photos released showed the two women smiling together in what appears to be a home.

Ms Robinson, the former president of Ireland, told BBC’s Radio 4 the princess was a “vulnerable” woman with a “serious medical situation” for which she was receiving psychiatric care.

She said the princess “now regrets” a 40-minute video she had released in which she said she was imprisoned on and off for several years and abused.

But human rights organisations have raised concern over Ms Robinson’s statement.

Radha Stirling, head of the UK-based group Detained in Dubai, said Ms Robinson “appeared to be reciting almost verbatim from Dubai’s script”.

She criticised Ms Robinson for failing to raise issues such as the allegations Ms Latifa made against her father, sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is Dubai’s ruler and the UAE’s prime minister and vice president, or the raid on her boat in international waters as she fled the Emirates.

“Ms Robinson simply repeated again and again from the official Dubai statement that Latifa is in the ‘loving care of her family’ and that the whole issue is nothing more than a ‘family matter’”, she said.

She added: “Latifa phoned me on the night of her abduction, pleading for my help. Given what she has conveyed to me, this meeting in no way satisfies me that she is free from the abuse that she told me she had suffered for years.”

Defending her comments, Ms Robinson released a statement saying: “I am dismayed at some of the media comments on my visit and I would like to say I undertook the visit and made an assessment, not a judgement, based on personal witness, in good faith and to the best of my ability.”

She said she had written a report about the visit to Michelle Bachelet, the UN high commissioner for human rights, and added: “I believe future action rests with that office, with the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances and with the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.”

Ms Latifa’s case drew international attention after a 40-minute video emerged showing her discuss her life, her efforts to leave the United Arab Emirates and alleged cruelty and abuses of her father. She warns that the release of the video means she’s been captured and brought back home.

She fled the kingdom and tried to begin a new life with the help of a French special forces officer, and had made her way to a boat off the coast of India when the UAE authorities managed to convince Indian counterparts to return her.

The case comes amid a wider discussion about human rights in the Arabian Peninsula in the wake of the kidnapping, murder, and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of agents of Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.

It’s unclear why Ms Robinson, who has a stellar record of advocacy on global human rights matters, would agree to make such a trip.

Her statement appears to acknowledge she made the trip at the behest of the royal family, which she admits was worried about the effects of Ms Latifa’s statement on the country’s international reputation.

Critics have accused Ms Robinson of allowing herself to be used by the Dubai royal family to whitewash a kidnapping attempt.

Nowhere in her public announcements about the trip does she address the circumstances behind the princess’ months-long disappearance and her sudden reappearance in the Gulf under the control of the royal family.

Also left unaddressed was whether Ms Latifa is allowed to leave the UAE, a monarchical dictatorship, or even the confines of the royal family’s complex of well-guarded palaces, and whether she is in the country on her own volition.

Though Ms Robinson described Ms Latifa as “troubled” and “vulnerable”, observers noted that she came across as clear-minded and rational in her own video.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia and other Arabian Peninsula monarchies have been taken to task for human rights violations.

The Khashoggi and Latifa cases both show the reach of the Gulf security forces, which seem unconstrained by national borders when it comes to reining in critical citizens.