Latifa and Tiina took pictures in the car on their drive through Oman from Dubai on 24th February 2018.While sailing on the Indian Ocean, they were boarded by military wearing Indian uniforms, said Jauhiainen, who was along for the journey. David Haigh, the founder of the Free Latifa campaign, who had been in touch with the women throughout the escape attempt, says he received WhatsApp messages on March 4, 2018.
“Please help,” he says the last message read. “Please please there’s men outside I don’t know what’s happening.”
The pair hid together in the bathroom, before being dragged outside, Jauhiainen said.
“[Latifa] kept saying she was seeking political asylum,” she said. “There was machine guns pointing at us [from all] sides. And at that point, we were separated. I was placed on the floor. I found myself next to a pool of blood. So I was terrified.”
The women, along with Jaubert and three crew members, were taken back to the UAE and placed in jail. But after a few days, to her surprise, both Jauhiainen and Jaubert were released, Jauhiainen said.
A recording released on YouTube in the event of Latifa’s capture, in which she described the conditions she lived in and her reasons for escaping, brought international attention to the case, which Jauhiainen and Haigh say is why they believe she was released. The video has now been viewed over 4 million times.
The Dubai government has attempted to discredit these claims, suggesting that Haigh, who was imprisoned in Dubai on charges of alleged fraud and embezzlement while managing director of Leeds United soccer club was being funded by their regional rivals, Qatar. Haigh denies those allegations.
Campaigning
Jauhiainen began campaigning for the princess’s release upon her return to Europe with Haigh, the founder of another organization: Detained International.
After her escape attempt, Latifa was not seen again until December 2018, when she appeared in the UAE in a photo op alongside Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland. Robinson was reportedly invited to see Latifa at that time by Princess Haya.
(MORE: They were convicted of minor crimes as teens and now face beheading and 'crucifixion' in Saudi Arabia) Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have also released statements demanding answers from the Dubai government about Latifa’s whereabouts. The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances is investigating the allegations that the princess was forcibly recaptured.
Dubai’s royal court issued a statement that month saying that they had received reports that a ransom had been demanded for Latifa when she left the country in February, and that she was then "safe in Dubai.”
The Sheikh’s lawyers declined to comment on the record on the allegations raised in this article.
"If an English judge is deciding whether it's safe to send two young children that are currently in England to the Middle East, to their father, then his past behavior to his other children is clearly going to be very important," Haigh told ABC News.
"For the first time in the last 18 months, [Latifa's] case is going to be looked at by a proper court in a proper jurisdiction in an open hearing.”
Kaynak:Abcnews