ROYAL MYSTERY: Where is the missing princess of Dubai? | 60 Minutes Australia

not even the creators of a james bond film could come up with the plot as intriguing and frightening as this 32 year old princess latifah is the daughter of dubai's all-powerful ruler she was born into a life of extreme wealth but there was one thing her money couldn't buy freedom so four and a half months ago with the help of a former french spy she made a daring escape but for all the meticulous planning she failed spectacularly and on the high seas somewhere between dubai and india the runaway princess's yacht was intercepted latifah was kidnapped by heavily armed soldiers and hasn't been seen since hello my name is latif al-maktoum i was born on december 5 1985. princess latifah is the 32 year old daughter of one of the richest and most powerful men in the world dubai's ruler sheikh muhammad bin rashid al maktoum and i'm making this video because it could be the last video i make this 38 minute video recorded days before her attempted escape from her homeland contains allegations which if true blow apart the glossy billion dollar reputation of dubai as a progressive beacon in the middle east my vision is to dubai to bill number one and the princess attacks her father's character as well a man who mixes with royalty and rulers who's the world's largest investor in horse racing and the force behind the globe's biggest airline emirates all my father cares about just his reputation and if you are watching this video it's not such a good thing either i'm dead or i'm in a very very very bad situation the princess has not been seen since march the 4th this year when it's claimed commandos stormed a yacht in international waters off india to grab latifa and drag her back to dubai as intriguing as the claims are the princess's story is backed by four main allies the woman who escaped dubai with princess latifah and was with her on the getaway yacht tina johannan they were telling me uh close your eyes or we'll shoot you right here take your last breath now what was the last image you have at motifa she was kicking and screaming and she was fighting for her life and you haven't seen let's say for since then no the other skipper french spy irv asia bear i could not believe the daughter of the ruler would want to escape you know when a woman speak about abuse torture imprisonment australian human rights activist radha sterling who received the final frantic telephone call for help from the princess the first thing she said help me there's people outside there's men outside i can hear gunshots please help me and i just jumped 20 feet in the air you know it was serious and british lawyer and businessman david hague have you made the whole thing up why clearly not and you know the evidence is all there you know it's not just us now the united nations accepted this human rights watch is behind us it's not just us at the beginning it was just us and we were battling everybody thinking well this is so fantastic it sounds like a movie it can't be true but then people start to realize it was true to the outside world princess latifah lived a privileged and carefree life in dubai her best friend tina johannan says she had a passion for adventure skydiving in particular but there was also a darker side to her life the princess confided in tina how she'd been imprisoned and tortured after first trying to flee dubai when she was a teenager so in total i was in prison for three years and four months i went in in june 2002 and i came out october 2005. it was constant torture constant torture even when they weren't physically beating me up they would torture me uh they would switch off all the lights i was in solitary confinement by myself totally and there's no windows there's no light so when they switch off the light it was pitch black they could switch it off for days so i don't i didn't know when one day ended and the next began she basically had no freedom she had curfews obviously she could not have a normal life and say for example date date a guy if she wanted to she was not allowed to have certain friends even talk to certain family members her life was just very restricted and it felt like she always had to look over her shoulder she had also not traveled um for nearly two decades what kind of woman was latifah i mean was she in a sense a western woman trapped in the middle east i always felt that latif was very different from other emirati women first of all all her friends were westerners so she didn't feel comfortable um hanging around with the local people and she didn't feel like she belonged in that culture at all [Music] latifa felt trapped and oppressed here in dubai so eventually she hatched an extraordinary escape plan with her best friend tina it was equal parts thelma and louise and james bond at first fleeing by road to oman then by boat and jet ski to india and finally flying to the united states where the princess was going to seek political asylum the reward was freedom at last but if both women were caught well the consequences would be dire you must have been nervous helping her to organize her escape because if you got caught in the process of doing all of this i mean you were in big trouble yes definitely but she was willing to take the risk she would often say this this is life or death for me she was so fed up with her life in uae that she was willing to take the risk even if she would not make it escaping from dubai was risky but not impossible so latifah commissioned former french spy herve for the job years earlier he'd masterminded his own escape from the city after his business dealings went sour and his passport was confiscated so i understood that no matter what i said or no matter what i did i was being framed to to be guilty no matter what as dramatized in this self-made documentary irve masqueraded as a woman to smuggle himself out to a boat and sail to india i was invisible it doesn't matter if you're pretty or ugly or fat once you wear the buyer you become invisible i know i experience it i know exactly the the feeling nobody is paying attention to you nobody is watching you so the plan was to pick up latifah and you know right here of muscat and then sell to goa latifa's daring escape from dubai was plotted over many months finally at dawn on february the 24th this year the moment of truth arrived before we got in the car we're like this is it it's really happening we were hugging each other and whatever happens we're both doing this because we want to do it and what was she like was she nervous or excited actually more excited than nervous because she felt like she has nothing to lose constantly on a tight leash motifa had to be smuggled out of dubai in the boot of tina's car on the road to oman she stopped and completely changed her appearance this is basically our last selfie in uae as you can see latifa looks very excited it's her first time sitting in the front seat in the car she's hot yes ever she's all used to having a driver and sitting on the back seat as yeah as far as she's concerned all her life did she say it was a bit weird sitting in the front seat she said it was weird but very liberating we're like we're like telma and louise and she actually said no no no that doesn't have a happy ending don't talk about that once in a man they then faced potentially the most deadly leg of the escape a five-hour trip by dinghy and jet skis through high seas to international waters where herve's yacht the nostromo was waiting but when i saw her i saw a woman who knew what she was doing she was absolutely determined to get away but there is there was no joy because the situation was tense [Music] how i would say [Music] it's like you you are in a war zone so you are not safe yet so what happened then you you set sail for india i went from right away i turned around the boat and uh i sailed away it was then an eight-day voyage to goa in india through what's infamously referred to as pirate alley off the coast of oman on day two of the journey latifa decided to message her family and let them know she'd escaped dear friends and family i've left dubai and she was also stating the reasons did she get replies from any of her family members um well their responses were were really um shocking like one of her sister's reply was what the [ __ ] the alarm was now well and truly raised an interpol red notice issued at dubai's request confirms latifah's disappearance but it states she'd been kidnapped why did she message them at that stage and not wait until you made it to india um i think she was so excited that she finally had her freedom so she thought already she was free at this stage she didn't think there was any any trouble coming before they got to india no she was aware of some trouble coming but imagine being living in a colder cage all your life and trouble did come just as they were desperately close to their destination it almost reached india's tourist hotspot of goa whenever they noticed they were being tracked by air and by sea he claims the indian coast guard was on their tail but being in international waters who they assumed they'd be safe he was wrong at 10 pm that night they were raided when they attacked us it was brutal i mean brutal and i'm a military guy i i can't i cannot i know the difference between soft and and and violent and and also i was the captain i was concerned for everybody else my crew and latifah and tina because had i made the wrong move they would have shot me on the spot i know i saw their face those guys they are trained you know trying to kill that's when we started hearing noises from from the upper deck which sounded like gunshots we were really really scared i thought that was it i was i was not going to make it coming up they hit me blood was pulling out of my head a desperate cry for help latifa telephoned me and said i can hear gunshots and the princess is captured she said don't take me back to uae rather shoot me here and now they've put themselves in the corner the world is watching them where is she that's next on 60 minutes under the cover of darkness on march the 4th this year commandos stormed the yacht captained by frenchman irve joubert hunting for dubai's princess latifah somebody grabbed me from behind there was a guy in front of me with a gun to my face and somebody grabbed me by a in the back they handcuffed me when i was uncovered they threw me on the floor and they hit me with i think a rifle uh the barrel or something and where did they hit you in the head they hit me in the head blood was pouring out of my head [Music] no had no not they didn't even talk to me did you not even ask me if i was the captain or who i was that's why i said it was a military attack they knew what they were doing downstairs locked in the toilet is the runaway princess daughter of dubai's all-powerful ruler sheikh muhammad throughout her eight-day escape latifah had been in constant contact with australian rada sterling who runs the human rights group detained in dubai how did you first become aware of latifah's case latifah contacted me a few days before the incident on the 4th of march she contacted me via email and i disregarded it i thought it was a hoax and you thought come on princess of dubai what i actually thought it was someone in the uae trying to set me up and for example publish fake news and discredit me so we went through a rigorous process of identifying and validating that it was you know actually princess latifah latifah sent rada copies of her uae identity card and passport and then there was this post on latifa's verified instagram account announcing her escape and fear of the consequences fear that now appeared well founded as the commandos were storming the boat it was very concerning when um latifa telephoned me and said i can hear gunshots i can you know there's people outside um help me help me and then completely disappears the cabin started filling with smoke so we couldn't see it in front of us we couldn't breathe anymore so we had to start moving towards the upper deck and on top of the stairs there was multiple machine guns pointing at us the two women were handcuffed and thrown to the blood-stained decks of the boat and the last tina johannan saw of her best friend was latifa being dragged off the boat at gunpoint what was the look in her eyes at this stage uh it was full of fear but she was still fighting she was not planning to give up but she said um don't take me back to uae he rather shoot me here but regardless of her yelling and kicking she was taken away at that point did they drag latifah off the boat yeah at that point they did dragged her off the boat and i never saw her again with latifa gone irva and tina claimed they were bundled onto a uae warship taken back to dubai where they were thrown straight in prison they put me in a cell in a solitary confinement and did they tell you that you could be facing the death penalty the next day i was interrogated by i believe a high official he said that i would be tortured before i get killed with a graphic detail he said for what you have done you stabbed in the back the the ruler i said let me not stab anybody in the back i'm just helping a woman who wants to be free no it doesn't work that way and he said that for what you did you are not going to be executed we are going to take your you are going to pry your flesh bit by bit until you die if claims of torture in dubai sounds too extreme to be true then listen to david hague's story when you say torture what are you talking about um i was basically electrocuted and i was beaten severely um there was sexual abuse as well which is very difficult to talk about still and i mean so severe was what they did to me that when i was released i spent six months in hospital recovering from the broken bones from as well as the broken mind david was the managing director of leeds united football club which was taken over by a dubai business back in 2012. but when a dispute over finances erupted he went to dubai chasing debts only to then find himself locked up on false charges that he would later be acquitted of it all escalated so quickly because one minute i'm coming there to have a meeting the next minute i'm there is about checking the next minute i'm standing in a police station in dubai with police officers hitting me around the back of the head david is now a human rights lawyer and has taken latifa's case all the way to the united nations some might say you're just out for revenge i think revenge is the wrong word you know i mean at the end of the day a girl called us ignore the fact that she's a princess and all the fact that she's been white that's irrelevant if any lady or man or anyone had called me and said you know i'm on a boat i can hear gunshots can you help me i think anyone watching this would you say no you wouldn't latifah's candid homemade video was the turning point in this whole drama i didn't i didn't feel the pain and it was like a half hour torture session human rights campaigner radha sterling released it to the media days after the boat was stormed and the skipper herve is convinced that the spotlight it shone on dubai saved his life we were going to be executed that i had absolutely no doubt in my mind and if you think of it it's logical they want to eliminate witnesses and destroy evidence they kill everybody they will for sure try to discredit this video it's my strong belief that without the press coverage without the spotlight on on this case that perhaps they would have been killed or certainly they would still be in the secret prison i was driven to the airport and they would walk me through the passport control and all formalities and waited until i boarded the plane that's when i got my passport back as well as my telephone i i'd imagine there were really mixed emotions getting on that plane yes you were free yes you're going to live but you're leaving your best friend behind exactly yes i i couldn't believe what was happening and what had happened it all felt so unreal uh i don't know what else to say it's been four and a half months since the commandos stormed the boat and took princess latifa away and still there's been no formal response from dubai neither confirming or denying the details of this extraordinary story our requests for an interview with a representative of the united arab emirates government have been declined but unofficially government sources in dubai have been quoted as saying that the princess is back with her family and doing fine but latifah's friends won't rest until they hear the princess speak for herself they're waging a very public campaign demanding answers from the shake and his government as to the whereabouts and safety of his daughter if i don't make it out i really hope that some positive change will happen from all of this imagine if the queen of england had been accused of the same crimes of human rights abuses of um imprisoning prince harry and torturing him it would be worldwide outrage and scandalous and there's no reason at all that the ruler of dubai should be treated any differently [Music] it's got more and more and more embarrassing for him because they've tried to cover it up they've lied about it and they haven't been honest and that's made what was already a very bad situation even worse and the fact is now the world knows about what they've done in international waters which they did in secrecy expecting that nobody would and their response to it has been terrible the act itself was terrible the response also terrible and now that they've put themselves in a corner the world is watching them where is she [Music] hello i'm sarah arbo thanks for watching to keep up with the latest from 60 minutes australia make sure you subscribe to our channel you can also download the nine now app for full episodes and other exclusive 60 minutes content

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 772,323

Rating: 4.7884402 out of 5

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Charles Wooley, Tara Brown, Liam Bartlett, Tom Steinfort, Michael Usher, Sarah Abo, Dubai, UAE, Middle East, Princess, Royalty, Princess Latifa, Latifa, Prince, King, free latifa, princess latifa, princess shamsa, missing princess of dubai, dubai princess, sheikh mohammed, sheikha, david haigh, where is latifa, where is shamsa, kidnapping, kidnapped, escape attempt, flee dubai, escape dubai, dubai royal family

Id: 52uWws96Cfc

Length: 22min 39sec (1359 seconds)

Published: Thu May 14 2020