DUBAI PRINCESS RUNAWAY! Who will win??

[Music] yeah partnerships are important but sometimes they go wrong don't they princess hi of Jordan they're talking in happier times she's now reportedly run away from her husband the ruler of Dubai and is seeking refuge in England with their two children Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum wants them back and this is going to be a heck of a legal fight because the princess has friends in high places so too does the Sheikh and they both have very expensive lawyers in London where this legal battle royal is underway now in a moment we're going to be hearing from a woman who helped another Dubai royal escape or tried to but first the story of princess hire the wife of Dubai's leader has fled the United Arab Emirates leaving her husband without warning and taking fifty six million dollars with her a wife of Dubai's ruler Mohammed Al Maktoum is in hiding in London Princess Haya is said to be in fear for her life after she fled from her husband Princess Haya married Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in 2004 making her the billionaire six and youngest wife princess hire and her children are holed up here at the family's hundred million dollar mansion it's a fitting hideaway for his princess who's close friends with the Queen and powerful figures right around the world the estranged wife of Dubai's billionaire ruler has emerged in London for the first time since fleeing the Middle East Princess hair is fighting to custody of her children and protection from her husband in a case tearing apart one of the world's most powerful families she's seeking wardship of her two children a forced marriage protection order for one of those children and a non molestation order which protects from harassment and threat his custody case is reactivating another battle royale in Sheikh Mohammed's life one of his older daughters Princess Latifah by another wife tried to escape Dubai last year before being caught in return she was complaining of mystery and oppression if you are watching this video it's not such a good thing either I'm dead I'm very very very bad situation Princess Haya bint Al Hussein is said to have escaped from the United Arab Emirates after discovering disturbing facts about her stepdaughter there's been no official comment from Sheikh Mohammed but renowned for his poetry he shared his anger in verse on Instagram you traitor you betrayed the most precious trust you no longer have a place within me I do not care whether you live or die now there's so much speculation in the press about why princess hire left to buy perhaps the best thing to do is just work out what she wants from the British justice system so let's speak to Tobey Cadman now a lawyer who worked on the shaker Latifah case at Toby look just take us through what does princess hire want in the British High Court which is effectively filed for three matters in in the High Court where as we've heard is looking for a war tip over one of her her children her her youngest child and she is obviously seeking custody of her two children who she escaped with and she is seeking a non mono station order to to protect her from any threats or harassment that she fears she may suffer as a result of her actions I'm so these these are the three principal grounds that she's seeking protection of the UK courts Lee the application that is being requested is a forced marriage protection order which would grant her with worship over her her minor child which is it is quite often used in cases such as this and it's certainly the one of the points that has received the majority of the media attention and the forced marriage protection order that gives the British authorities a right to step in and prevent one of those children being being married off against their will yeah oh that's the basis of the forced America protection order yes that's that's exactly what it would it protects and there are some reports that she's seeking to prevent being taken back to Dubai is that in the the legal filings that almost certainly would be part of the filings that have been made it's also part of the non molestation order or the order for a non molestation all Sheikh Mohammed is suing his estranged wife for custody of the children we understand why would a essentially a ruler of the emirate subjugate himself to the British courts well as we know certainly what shakey Latif has said when she fled Dubai over a year ago the the Dubai ruler in particular is is very concerned that his international standing and his reputation globally and he will fight tooth and nail to protect that so he is not really being given much of a choice if he if he fails to respond and if it fails to challenge this in the UK course princess ayah will effectively succeed in the application she's making so in order for him to do maintain his reputation and to effectively gain custody of his children he has to engage Toby you know we are talking about a number of different characters here so it's got a quick reminder of who's who princess hire of Jordan is the daughter of the late King the same and the half-sister of Jordan's current monarch King Abdullah the second she married Dubai's Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum fifteen years ago becoming his sixth and junior wife she's 45 he's 70 they have two children together and both parents are now suing in the UK for custody Princess Haya reportedly fears for her life but is that just speculation we've not heard anything from her directly she's also reportedly worried about Sheikh Mohammed's two daughters by another wife Shekar Schanzer as Shekar Latifah shams ur reportedly tried to run away from her father's estate in England in 2000 and the Tifa tried to escape Dubai last year with the help of her friend and martial arts instructor Tina Jha Heinen and the former French naval officer of Asia Bear both women are said to be in Dubai now the tifa's case is now being looked into by the United Nations now a lot of people are saying that Princess Haya left to buy because she was worried about what happened to Latifah but publicly at least she had been supporting the official line that Latifah was safe and well she even invited her friend the former UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson to come to see Latifah and these photographs were released in December 20 and then in a radio interview in January this year princess hire continued to say Latifah was okay it's a private family matter and I don't want to go any more deeply and into it because for the for the protection of Latifah herself and to ensure that she's not used and by by anyone else and she's a vulnerable young woman and that that's what's important to me and what's important to us to the family is is is to ensure that that she's alright Andy I take a couple of months later hire herself fled Dubai hope you have to ask you what do you think it counts for this apparent a change of perspective from Princess Haya well I think one of the points to make is we have not heard from from Princess Haya as to to whether the situation involving the two daughters chicken leaf Latifah and shams er was a reason for her to polish there has been speculation that that is one of the reasons but obviously we haven't heard that from her yet of course her reputation is going to be very very much on the line as as far as her previous involvement and she's as we know she's a former UN goodwill ambassador and there was a great deal of criticism of the fact that she took the former Irish President Mary Robinson to to Ireland to Dubai and paraded photographs and then defended her as we as we've just heard so she's going to have to account for that now it may well be that something has occurred in the intervening period that has caused her very serious concern as to the well-being of not only herself but her children and because of what she has seen that may or may not have happened to chicken Latifah and chicken Samsa and that has compelled her to to take matters into her own hands to protect her children okay now originally princess hire managed to leave to buy on a price jet reportedly with the help of a German diplomat a destination apparently Germany Sheikh Mohamud apparently demanded that the Germans return her but they refused and a couple of days later she flew to Britain and you can see why she might feel safe here princess hire knows England well she spent much of her childhood being educated in private English schools in the southwest she then went up to Oxford University studying the elites favorite philosophy politics and economics or PPE her rich and powerful friends include Prince Charles and his wife Camilla and coincidentally or not she's hired solicitor Baroness Shackleton the same lawyer the Prince used during his divorce from lady die Princess Haya is now said to be living in a 100 million-dollar mansion in London which she bought from Laxmi Macao the Indian billionaire all good reasons then to move to the UK but Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum has a powerful presence here - he owns the elite Godolphin horse racing stables and last month at Ascot was presented with a trophy by the Queen he's also invested huge sermons in Britain's property market and like his wife he'd clearly prepared to do battle in the British courts employing lady Helen Ward who acted for Guy Ritchie in his divorce from Madonna lady Ward vs. Baroness Shackleton in the High Court a perhaps appropriately British duel which could throw up all sorts of new details when proceedings begin in November that's why proceedings begin in November let's go back to - Toby now in November are we expected as the public to get any more details well as we know that the reporting restrictions have now been lifted and so effectively the the matter will proceed in in public and obviously one of the cornerstones of our justice system is that justice is heard in public even for matters such as this but of course what we have to consider is that there are going to be very serious allegations made by both sides and particularly over the well-being of two young children and so it may well be that certain aspects of the hearing will be heard in private and that public will be excluded from these are two powerful Arab families we're talking about here both have connections with the British royal family will any of that informally even come into play here no and I think that's probably one of the reasons why the courts are our courts are chosen to to resolve disputes such as such as this is because our courts are considered to be completely independent and impartial of either the executive or the monarchy so whatever the Royal Family's position might be is is going to be irrelevant and what about be decided by a high court yeah but there will be people who say that diplomatic and political considerations have played a part in British justice before for example the case of BAE Systems the British weapons maker and the contract with the Saudis where political pressure from the British and the Saudi government made sure looking into corruption was dropped well of course there are always political considerations that prevent a case from going to court the big question and and there are also political considerations and making sure that certain piece of evidence that may be subject to public interest immunity national security are not heard in open court but it would be quite rare it'd have been unheard of for judges to be manipulated into making rulings on the basis of of the politicization of the case so I think in that regard it's highly unlikely and it is not by coincidence that Princess Haya has chosen to litigate in London well Toby we shall see come November and hopefully you will come back to the Nexus to give us more legal analysis thank you very much Toby Cameron well princess Haier is reportedly the third female royal to leave the emirate since 2000 the other two being shakers Shamsi and her sister Latifah who tried to escape Dubai last year well here she is talking about her life in Dubai in a video she recorded just in case she didn't make it out so I'm not allowed to drive I'm not allowed to travel or leave Dubai at all I can't I haven't left the country since 2000 I've been asking a lot just to go travelling to study to do anything normal they don't let me that's my life basically very restricted I can't I can't even go to another emirate without permission I can't so I have to be in Dubai we're now joined by latifa's good friend Tina Yohan yin so we're gonna get on onto the the day you guys tried to escape but first if I could just ask you a lot of people would look at the lifestyle in Dubai and say you know a shaker a member of the royal household surrounded by luxury but that's not how life was for her that wasn't compensation enough for her lack of freedom right and no no not at all her life was extremely restricted and I saw it from very early on from early days of our friendship she was not allowed to go to anyone's private homes she hadn't traveled from Dubai since year 2000 she wasn't allowed to study not even to go to other Emirates she was only allowed to be driven around by her designated driver everything was very very difficult and you got to know her over many years you were her martial arts instructor and then slowly she she lets you know what her predicament was well initially I got to know her through martial arts and that was back in 2010 but as we became closer friends we we started spending a lot more time together and in 2013 we started skydiving together as well so slowly we started building trust and and was able to actually tell me about things that were bothering her and and all the horrible things that had happened to her in the past as well and whose idea was it for her to escape Dubai she had tried to escape to buy already 2002 to get him help for her sisters shumsa who was imprisoned due to her failed escape attempt in the UK so I believe Latif had been planning for the second escape attempt for many many years but it was only summer 2017 that she told me that she wants to try again and she asked me if I would would help her and how did you help her and tell us also about the day that you actually made your escape February 24th 2018 well initially Latifah wanted me to travel to the Philippines to meet the French captain who was in charge of the operation to help with with the logistics Latifa didn't want me to be with her and the actual escape because she was afraid for my safety but I told her that you know I wouldn't miss this kind of opportunity for an adventure together for for anything I actually wanted to be there with her and tell us about the day itself it was it sounds incredibly exhausting starting with how you got out of Dubai well we met early in the morning in a cafe in a cafe outside dubai mall we had previously done early morning breakfasts so that the driver wouldn't suspect anything we basically went inside the cafe and Latifah went to the bathroom to obviously change her look get rid of her abaya and I I drove her to to Oman to the capital of a man to Muscat and over there we took a dinghy to international waters and around 15 miles out the captain and one of his crew members came to pick us up with jet skis and it was another three or four hours journey to the yacht when you say the captain you mean Vasia bir yes I mean I mean here yes okay and by the time you got across you know 30 miles of water you must have been pretty exhausted where you relieved to be on his yacht yes yes it was a really long day we had started off from Dubai around 6:30 in the morning and it was sunset when we reached the yacht so we were exhausted but happy you know to the device government almost never comments about Latifah and Schanzer but after the BBC and PBS released a documentary about Latifah and Tina's attempted escape the government issued this rare statement we are aware and deeply saddened by the continued media speculation regarding her Highness sheikha Latifah this private family matter has caused significant upset shaker Latifah and shaker Schanzer are adored and cherished by their family and then the statement goes on to say that the Tifa was exploited by the people who got her out of the country particularly of a jobber who then they say demanded a 100 million dollar ransom but also says her Highness sheikha Latifah is now safe in Dubai back to Tina for a moment Tina they say the the Dubai authorities that the Tifa was adored and cherished by her family why wouldn't we take that at face value that comment could be further away from the reality let's see fur hat nobody from her family who was close to her and that statement was released on her birthday and all these years that I have known Latifah she never even celebrated her birthday with her family the the device statement also alleges that a visa bear the French captain had then went on to ask for a ransom he categorically denies that says he was just trying to help Latifah and here he is describing to us the raid on his yacht military style attack Mike who was beaten that if I was screaming that Kudo out of the boat she was kicking and screaming I was beaten for 45 minutes they left me with a head injury I was bleeding the COO told me that I was unrecognizable all swallow the Hornets who black bread you know whatever well Tina was there that night on the yacht with Latifah and they a Tina who boarded yacht and how did they treat you once they got on board it was India and commandos and I saw Indian Coast Guard ships around the yacht when they boarded the earth I was downstairs in our cabin with Latifah and we were forced to come out as the cabin filled with smoke and as soon as we were met by those commandos me and Latifah we separated I was basically pushed on the floor and my hands were tied behind my back and they were threatening to shoot my brain out the treatment was horrible I was witnessing Latifah kicking and screaming as she was taken away from the yacht she kept on repeating how she's seeking political asylum but her pleas were obviously ignored I also witnessed the crew being beaten up in front of my eyes it was one of the most horrible experiences I've gone through and to be clear there was a role there for the Indian Coast Guard or commandos as you put it because you were heading in that yacht to Goa in India right and you never made it we were still in the international waters when the attack happened but the aim was to get to go up yes and once they they took you off the yacht the tea for you and of a jobber what happened well basically Latifah was taken off the yacht herve myself and the crew were basically taken by both to UAE and we were taken to a secret prison the journey for us took about seven days to go back to UAE and the secret prison what happened there well over there I was obviously and not allowed to make a phone call I was told that nobody makes a phone call this is like a state security prison for for anyone who is it straight to nationals anything no I was not no no I was basically threatened with death penalty with a life in prison for stabbing the ruler of Dubai in the back for helping his daughter escape and what do you think is the reason for your release I believe obviously at that time I had no idea what was happening outside I was told that nobody knows that you're here but afterwards I learned that the video that blood Seifer recorded was released and through that media pressure and also the involvement of Finnish government finally they had to let me go the Finnish government because you're originally from Finland okay yes let's go back let's go back to that video that the Tifa recorded now here she is talking about her hopes for a new beginning I don't know how I'll feel just waking up in the morning or thinking I can do whatever I want today I can go wherever I want I have all the choices in the world like anyone does there'll be such a new different feeling I'd be amazing I'm really looking forward to that when you cast your mind back to that night you perhaps didn't know that you wouldn't see her again is there anything you wish you'd done differently well I wish I told her that I love her lots and and it's not her fault I know that during the whole journey on the boat she was more concerned about my safety than than her own have you had any indication formally or otherwise about what's happened to her well the only indication was the pictures that were released on Christmas Eve where she was sitting next to Mary Robinson she was look she didn't look well she was looking uncomfortable she was avoiding looking at the camera for me it was very obvious that she was forced to to be in that situation Tina what are you hoping will come out of the princess hire case do to start in November that might actually help the tifa's predicament well I hope during the court case there will be new information released regarding Latifah's plight as well and eventually put more pressure on Dubai and Sheikh Mohammed to release her and now what for you Tina and for your friendship with the Tifa I have you given up are you going to carry on I'm going to carry on I have no reason to give up on fighting for my friend's freedom I've been doing that for 17 months and I'm very confident at the moment that I will see her again we have a new legal team more people who are supporting her and now the possibility of Princess Haya helping her as well today Yohan Yin thank you very much for recounting the events last year and joining us here on the Nexus are really appreciate it and thank you at home for watching as well remember you can see this and all our previous episodes on our YouTube channel but for now goodbye and see you next week [Music] you

Channel: Nexus

Views: 211,131

Rating: 4.7141657 out of 5

Keywords: Princess Haya, Sheikha Latifa, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Divorce, Tiina Jauhiainen, Dubai, UAE, Free Latifa, TRT, TRT World, TRT News

Id: mDGvNwT0t8Q

Length: 26min 42sec (1602 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 08 2019