The UN Commission on Human Rights has asked for proof that Dubai’s missing princess is alive.
Princess Latifa is a daughter of one of the world’s richest men, Dubai’s billionaire ruler Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum.
She has accused her father of holding her hostage in secret videos released to Sky News, following attempts to flee the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The 35-year-old claims she was beaten, drugged and imprisoned, firstly in a jail and then in a villa with bars at the window, after she attempted to escape from Dubai in February 2018.
She says she was forcibly returned the following month, in what the royal family say was a rescue mission.
The ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, meets the Queen every summer at Ascot and other horse races
The sheikh, a powerful and influential man regularly seen alongside heads of state such as the Queen, has previously said she is safe and well.
The family say they wish to maintain her privacy.
But world leaders including UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson have called for information about her wellbeing – and now the UN has stepped in.
The Commission says it has raised the issue with the UAE’s mission in Geneva.
Princess Shamsa has not been seen in public for almost 21 years. Pic: freelatifa.com
In 2000, another of Sheikh Mohammed’s daughters went missing.
Sheikha Shamsa al Maktoum, ran away aged 19 during the family’s annual UK holiday and allegedly went to see an immigration solicitor in London to seek advice about remaining in Britain.
But shortly afterwards, she was taken from the street and she later claimed it was her father who sent “four Arab men to catch me, they were carrying guns and threatening me”.
Sheikh Mohammed told a court Shamsa was vulnerable and just a child and he felt “overwhelming relief” when she was found.
Shamsa has not been seen in public since.