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LAST UPDATE | 19 Feb 2021
DUBAI’S ROYAL FAMILY has insisted that Sheikha Latifa was being “cared for at home” after the United Nations demanded proof that she was still alive following “disturbing” footage aired this week.
The UN Human Rights Office said it had asked the United Arab Emirates for evidence after the BBC published video shot by the daughter of Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum saying she was being held captive and feared for her life.
Sheikh Mohammed is the vice president and prime minister of the UAE, of which Dubai is one of the seven emirates.
His 35-year-old daughter has not been seen in public since a foiled attempt to escape from the emirate in March 2018.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said it had spoken to the UAE’s diplomatic mission in Geneva yesterday.
“We did raise the case yesterday with the permanent mission here in Geneva,” OHCHR spokeswoman Liz Throssell told reporters.
“We did ask for proof of life.”
The BBC said the clips it broadcast on Tuesday were filmed roughly a year after Latifa was captured and returned to Dubai, showing her crouched in a corner of what she says is a bathroom.
The undated videos were aired as Latifa’s friends voiced concern that they are no longer receiving secret messages from her, the BBC reported.
Latifa ‘supported by family’
In a statement issued by the UAE’s embassy in London, the Dubai royal family said: “We want to thank those who have expressed concern for her wellbeing, despite the coverage which certainly is not reflective of the actual position.
“Her family has confirmed that her highness is being cared for at home, supported by her family and medical professionals.
“Sheikha Latifa continues to improve and we are hopeful she will return to public life at the appropriate time.”
The embassy did not provide any accompanying footage or images.
Throssell, from the office of UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet, said they raised concerns with the UAE “in light of the disturbing video evidence”.
“We requested more information and clarification about Sheikha Latifa’s current situation.
“Given the serious concerns about Sheikha Latifa, we have requested that the government’s response comes as a matter of priority.
“We will continue to monitor and assess the situation closely.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday he was “concerned” by the videos, which his Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab called “very distressing”.
Foiled escape
In March 2018, Latifa attempted to flee the UAE on a boat that was intercepted by commandos off the coast of India, according to her companions and the UK-based group Detained in Dubai.
In the videos, Latifa says that men from the UAE sat on her, tried to tie her up and injected her with a sedative.
A Dubai government source later said she had been “brought back” and the UAE released photographs of Latifa, saying she was receiving “the necessary care and support”.
Latifa said she was held for about three months in the Al-Awir central prison in Dubai, until May 2018, before being moved to a villa.
On 6 December 2018, Bernard Duhaime, the chair-rapporteur of the UN working group on enforced or involuntary disappearances, and Agnes Callamard, the special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, wrote to the UAE demanding information on her whereabouts.
Mohammed Ibrahim al-Shaibani, the head of the royal court, replied on 18 December with pictures from three days earlier of Latifa with Mary Robinson, the former Irish president and former UN rights chief.
“She was and never has been arrested or detained,” Shaibani wrote.
“This is a private family matter; her highness and her family are working together with professional support to do everything possible to ensure her current and future welfare.”
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Good on ye! Someone has to do something and yet again it’s nurses. My mum was dying in ICU when we had the last nurses strike in 2019 and in spite of wanting the best for my mum I absolutely supported the nurses then and I will now. They were quite simply angels who helped us through the toughest of times and gave my dear mum what little dignity they could in her final days.
I went into limerick hospital on a Friday late evening with chest pains about two years, the A&E doctor was fairly sure it was muscular after a few tests. Saturday I felt fine and wanted to be discharged, the doctor said he needed the cardiac consultant to see me but he wouldn’t be in till Monday morning. 5pm Monday I was discharged. If there was a cardiac consultant on over the weekend, I could have been gone home Saturday instead off occupying a bed for an extra two nights. Bad management all around, support the nurses but everyone know it’s management is the issue
@Patrick O Connell: the lawyers kept you in for 2 nights
I wonder will they call off any industrial action when a few of their members get some middle management posts (which will then create more paperwork for the staff on the wards) like they did the last time they striked.
Typical contribution from this so called leader. Just how constructive is a call for strike ballot right now. Typical – all bluster and offers nothing in the way of constructive solution. But wait – a 10% salary increase will cure all her ills. Meanwhile the rest of can whistle dixie.
Threatening to go on strike so they can get more money.. Typical while patients of all ages are the ones who have to spend hours in A and E waiting to be seen. Dumped on trollies or chairs and after been seen left with a bill unless you have a medical card.
@Just Some Guy: if this is what you think it’s about, you need to put down the FFFG branded cool-aid .
@Just Some Guy: Read the articles. They’re as stressed over the overcrowding and understaffing as anyone else – unlike the patients and voters, they’re doing something to change this ridiculous scenario where every year hundreds of sick people are stuck in corridors. Ireland needs thousands more bed spaces And the staff to give them the healthcare they all deserve. Good for the staff who aren’t being fobbed off with annual excuses. They’re the very people who have been warning the people of Ireland that this is not only happening again but getting worse.
@Just Some Guy: Jesus, Varadkar, Martin, Donnelly will be delighted with you for that comment. Wonder why you didn’t blame Doctors ,Nurses, and the staff working themselves to the bone for being responsible for the chaos in the Health service. Bit ironic you failed to mention it was FFG policy the created this mess. Of course that would not suit your agenda…
@Donal Desmond: we have Dave the Ra shouting at anyone that will listen that our health system is terrible and yet his comrade Martina Anderson telling anyone who listen in the North that we have a Dar superior health service.
@Patrick O Connell: Perhaps it has escaped your attention that SF is not in government in the South. You conveniently fail to mention it is FFG who between them have governed this state since it’s foundation. Yet you blame the opposition for the catastrophic health service. As for the North there has been no Government in place since the DUP threw their rattler out of the pram.
@Just Some Guy: did you even read the article? It’s not about money it’s about staffing levels and overcrowding. Nothing will change anyway but at least they are highlighting it
@Just Some Guy: Nurse’s are not going on strike over pay they are going on strike over Patient safety no Nurse’s no beds and no support, have you worked a 12hr shift with no break???
If a disaster like the Stardust were to take place, what would happen? It doesn’t bear thinking about
This is worse than it has ever been….our daughter is a palliative nurse and is trying to treat cancer patients on a trolley in A and E…this is beyond disgusting….get Leo and the other ministers in and see for them selves what it is like…something needs to be done
@Linda Oreilly: Leo knows exactly what it’s like. He was originally a doctor in Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown. Martin was previously a health minister. They know precisely what’s wrong but chose to do nothing about it because it doesn’t directly affect them.
@Eddie Feeney: they’ll just ride out this storm besides actually doing something ie actually do a bit of work. But they will give themselves a couple more Pay rises that you can be assured of.
Who knows, maybe these guys are playing the long con so, leave the country in such a state of disarray that when SF do take the hot seat things will be so bad people will just blame them then the current bunch will be back in power before they know it.
Toothless Union,
Fix the health system, end of, as the English say.
When it comes to nurses, it is difficult to be critical, even constructively, because everyone reverts to the emotional arguments to push their point and in so many ways we are so grateful to them.
That said, a lot of the working conditions incl trollies is largely down to nurses unions. They are the frontline. These problems did not develop overnight. Their unions threaten strikes over pay but claim it is all about ‘ patient safety’, yet when have we heard them threaten to go out on strike because of trollies, understaffed/ under equipped services which has been going on for years and only gets worse. 24hr healthcare i e. The likes of MRI scanners etc etc etc being made available. But probably as important, we have seen the decline in nurse morale, nurse numbers and conditions to a frightening level for all which begs the question as to what their unions are doing to protect the profession and patients. So why not use your political influence and threaten to withdraw your services in order to protect patients and profession as often as ye do for money, then we would all be better off. Personally I believe nurses deserve greater pay and conditions and an liveable ‘ Dublin housing allowance’
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