Radha Stirling on Euronews: Mary Robinson and Princess Latifa
Statement of Radha Stirling, CEO of Detained in Dubai:
Anyone familiar with Princess Latifa’s story who listened to the BBC Radio interview today with Mary Robinson will be astonished at the extent to which Ms Robinson appeared to be reciting almost verbatim from Dubai’s script. What we heard today was Mary Robinson essentially reciting for BBC Radio listeners the content of the statement issued by the Dubai Ruler’s Court.
She had nothing to say about the charges Latifa made against her father, Sheikh Mohammed, in her video, only saying that Latifa, now again in her father’s custody, regretted having recorded it. She said nothing about Latifa’s having planned her escape for nearly a decade, nor anything about her previous escape attempt. She did not mention the escape and subsequent reported abduction of Latifa’s sister Shamsa. She said nothing about the illegal raid of Latifa’s boat in international waters, and the fact that she was screaming for asylum and begging to not be returned to the UAE. 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”.
Ms Robinson suggests that the circumstances of Latifa’s escape should be investigated, but not the allegations of torture and abuse which prompted her escape, nor did she suggest that the violent capture by the security forces of the UAE and India in international waters should be investigated. She stated that Latifa is currently under “psychiatric care”; Latifa has previously described this “care” to include forced medication that caused her sister Shamsa to be sedated to the point that her personality was crushed after she was abducted from the UK and forcibly brought back to Dubai.
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.
What Ms Robinson has related of Latifa’s current condition is in line with exactly what we and Latifa would have anticipated; That the same lucid and determined woman seen in the video made prior to her escape, the same woman who trained for and planned a daring escape, the same woman that Tiina had come to know as strong, is now being presented as mentally disturbed and vulnerable and being provided with “psychiatric care”.
It is obvious to me that this meeting between Mary Robinson and Latifa, under the supervision of Princess Haya, one of Sheikh Mohammed’s wives; and indeed, Ms Robinson’s comments about the meeting, reveal nothing concrete about Latifa’s condition and serve only to promote Dubai’s attempt to avoid any serious enquiry. We are very happy that Latifa is alive, but are cognizant of the fact that she herself said that she would rather die than be returned to her father’s custody, and thus, continue to have grave concerns about her welfare.
