“In the summer of 2000, Shamsa escaped from his family holiday home in England. He was 18 years old … and had a good mind,” wrote Princess Latifa, who also claimed to have been taken hostage in a letter sent to CNN by his friend David Haigh, an advocate for his release and a member of Detained International, a legal defense NGO.
“She was enslaved and oppressed and suffered physical abuse at the hands of family members … She wanted to seek asylum in the United Kingdom, where she has a family that lives there permanently. After a few months, she was abducted … The street kicked and screamed. She was reassured and returned to Dubai, “Latifa wrote in the February 2018 document.
The princess added that her sister was tortured, “kept incommunicado without a date of departure, trial or charge.”
“She was tortured by making her feet bulge, which I lived with in my own prison,” she wrote.
“Her ultimate goal is to be an emancipated person, to live with dignity, to have freedom of choice and freedom of movement … She wants the basic rights to which all human beings are entitled,” the princess continued.
The princess said her sister has “strong ties to England” and was “illegally abducted on UK soil”.
“All I ask of you is that you please pay attention to your case because you could get your freedom, which is the only thing you want in life,” he added.
In a statement sent to CNN, Cambridgeshire police confirmed that they had received a letter, “dated February 2018 in connection with this case, which will be considered part of the ongoing review”.
The force also said it is investigating the recent BBC Panorama documentary, in which Latifa herself claims to have been taken hostage in Dubai.
The UK Foreign Office declined to comment on Thursday.
A recent statement from his family said coverage of Latifa’s situation “does not reflect the real position,” according to the UAE embassy in London.
One of Latifa and Haigh’s cousins obtained the letter and handed it to the police.
The group also filed a “transcript of several Sheikha Latifa video statements,” which were obtained through “a smuggling, with great difficulty and danger, of a mobile phone in Sheikha Latifa prison in Dubai,” he said. Haigh in the letter sent to police and shared with CNN, with its Arabic title.
“Contact [with Latifa] it was maintained for most of 2019 and 2020. Contact was lost during the second half of 2020, ”Haigh said.
The group also claims to have evidence that a British citizen was involved in the kidnapping of Princess Shamsa.
“We were not able to disclose this evidence previously because of what we believe was an unacceptable risk to Sheikha Latifa’s life and safety. However, now that contact has been lost, we are very concerned about her life and security and we decided to take the step to release the evidence obtained, “Haigh added.