Rights group says princess must be ‘free to talk’ about kidnap claim
Robinson ‘dismayed’ as her role is called ‘attempted whitewash’
MARY Robinson came under renewed pressure from human rights groups yesterday after she defended her comments on the reported kidnapping of a Dubai princess.
The former president said she was ‘dismayed’ at criticism of her claims that Princess Latifa Al Maktoum was a ‘troubled young woman’ who is now ‘receiving psychiatric care’.
She had also said, in a BBC radio interview on Thursday, that the princess ‘now regrets’ making a video, containing allegations she was tortured in Dubai, which went viral earlier this year.
A number of human rights groups and a BBC documentary have claimed that Princess Latifa was captured trying to flee Dubai after making the video.
And the former president’s comments have been described as an attempt to ‘whitewash the actions of the UAE ruling family’.
Princess Latifa, the 33-year-old daughter of the ruler of Dubai, appeared in three photos with Mrs Robinson during a lunch together on December 15, showing Latifa looking withdrawn and looking away from the lens as Mrs Robinson smiles for the photograph.
Yesterday, Mrs Robinson said, in a statement: ‘I am dismayed at some of the media comments on my visit. I undertook the visit and made an assessment, not a At the lunch: The princess and Mrs Robinson judgment, based on personal witness, in good faith and to the best of my ability.’
She said she had gone to Dubai at the invitation of Princess Haya bint Hussein, one of the wives of Latifa’s father, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
‘I was aware of the international concern over Sheikha Latifa and that she had not been seen for many months so when Princess Haya asked me to go to Dubai to meet with both of them I agreed, without hesitation,’ she said.
‘On my arrival in Dubai I received extensive briefings and it was clear to me that Princess Haya had particular concern for the welfare of Sheikha Latifa whom she described as troubled and quite vulnerable. During my time with her, Sheikha Latifa presented as a very likeable young woman with a wide range of interests but her vulnerability was apparent.’
She also said she had written a report of her visit to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and that ‘future action rests with that office, with the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances and with the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions’.
But Human Rights Watch last night said: ‘We would welcome an opportunity to speak about the case to Princess Latifa in a context where she’d be free to talk.’
Alisha Ali-Khan, a rights campaigner, said Ms Robinson’s involvement looked like an attempt to ‘whitewash the actions of the UAE ruling family’.
Amnesty International, which campaigned on the princess’s plight, said it would not be commenting at this time. Independent Alliance Minister John Halligan, who is a member of Amnesty International, told the Irish Daily Mail that he would refrain from criticising Mrs Robinson before having the full facts. ‘She is a very formidable person throughout the world on human rights,’ he said. ‘I know that to be true.’
Before leaving Dubai in March, Princess Latifa had warned that people – including herself and her sister Shamsa – who disagreed with the regime are frequently heavily medicated and described as mentally ill. It was reported that she had hoped to travel to the US and claim asylum but was stopped on board a boat near the coast of India and returned to Dubai.
Following a campaign by organisations such as Detained in Dubai and Amnesty International, her plight was the subject of a BBC documentary, Escape From Dubai: The Mystery Of The Missing Princess, on December 6. It detailed Princess Latifa’s claims that she was tortured and put in prison after her first escape bid, and how one of her sisters was also jailed after she tried to flee Dubai.
Before her escape attempt, she made a video in which she said, ‘If you’re watching this, it is not such a good thing. Either I am dead or I am in a very, very bad situation.’
‘The world is no longer gullible’
FOR a politician of her sensitivity, nous and human rights record, it was a spectacular misstep by former president Mary Robinson to allow herself be photographed with Sheikha Latifa, who is at the centre of allegations that she was kidnapped and returned to Dubai.
The princess, a member of the ruling Maktoum family, had warned in a video that those who disagreed with the regime, including herself and her sister Sheikha Shamsa, are frequently heavily medicated and described as mentally ill.
For Mrs Robinson to dismiss such claims on the strength of one meeting, and instead describe Sheikha Latifa as a troubled young woman who now is receiving psychiatric care betrays a naivety that has left her open to criticism from other human rights organisations.
She should have been more circumspect when promoting the official version of events and instead maintained a healthy scepticism.