A 'farewell' video has surfaced on YouTube featuring a woman, who claims to be Latifa Al Maktoum — one of UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's daughters. The video was posted on March 11 from an account named "Escape from Dubai," registered the same day. In it, Latifa Al Maktoum says that she was going to make an attempt to flee the UAE and notes that if the video is published, it means she is either dead or missing.
Latifa says that she decided to run from Dubai, because, despite being a 33-year-old woman, she doesn't have freedom to live the way she wants. Latifa also describes previous attempts to escape made by her sisters and the consequences for them, as well as gives other examples of alleged mistreatment of the women in her family.
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Earlier, several media, including the Daily Mail, reported, citing "Detained in Dubai," a legal firm helping people from the Arab Emirates, that the boat she and her American friend Herve Jaubert used to escape was surrounded by armed men. In her last messages, sent to Radha Stirling, who works with "Detained" via WhatsApp, she claimed to hear gunfire. Their boat was last seen 50km from the Indian coast. No official confirmation of the story has been released either by the UAE or India.