Video of Dubai princess reveals details of her ‘hostage’ situation in police-guarded ‘prison villa’

Princess Latifa

Credit: BBC Panorama

The daughter of Dubai’s ruler who tried to flee the country in 2018 has been "held hostage" in a villa surrounded by police, secret videos to her friends claim. 

Princess Latifa Al Maktoum made a number of accusations in the videos, which were recorded in the bathroom of the villa because it was "the only door she could lock".

The footage, obtained by BBC’s Panorama programme, also claims: 

The undated videos, which you can watch below, were recorded over several months after friends managed to give her a phone about a year after her capture and return to Dubai, according to the BBC.

In 2019, Latifa began to send secret messages to her friends, via a smuggled phone

She described being held, against her will

The UAE has previously said Latifa is "safe in the loving care of her family"#MissingPrincesshttps://t.co/WCWIJKcqLd pic.twitter.com/ngyi4nbnTO

— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) February 16, 2021

In one of the clips, she says: "I’m a hostage and this villa has been converted into a jail.

"I don’t really know if I’m going to survive this situation. The police threatened me that I would be in prison my whole life and I’ll never see the sun again."

Dubai and the UAE have previously said she is safe in the care of family, according to the BBC.

In March last year, the ruler of Dubai abducted two of his daughters before waging a frightening campaign of intimidation and harassment against his ex-wife after she had an affair with a British bodyguard, a judge has found.

The damning High Court ruling followed a protracted bitter child custody battle between Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s and his youngest wife, Princess Haya.

In a "fact finding" judgment published last year, Sir Andrew McFarlane, the president of the Family Division, accepted claims the 70-year-old billionaire sheikh — who is on "friendly terms with the British Royal Family" — has for "two decades" used his "very substantial powers at his disposal to achieve his aims".

The sheikh — ruler of Dubai and vice president of the UAE — had applied to the British courts for the summary return to Dubai of their children, Jalila, 12, and Zayed, seven, after Princess Haya, fled with them to London in April last year.