Princess Latifa is alive and well as a photo emerged on social media photo showing her with friends in a Dubai shopping mall.
The latest photo of Princess Latifa comes days after sending secret video messages in which she claims the Dubai royal family were holding her ‘hostage’. Her father, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum has denied these claims and insists she is safe and well.
The picture, posted two days ago on Instagram, appears to have been taken in the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai.
It shows a woman with an uncanny resemblance to the Emirati royal and was shared on an account named shinnybryn, which has fewer than 300 followers. Co-founder of the Free Latifa campaign and Detained International, David Haigh, said:
‘We confirm that there have been several potentially significant and positive developments in the campaign.
‘We do not intend to comment further at this stage, a further statement will be issued at the appropriate time.’
Princess Latifa, now 35, tried to flee the royal household in March 2018 by attempting to sail across the Indian Ocean, fly to the US and then claim political asylum.
But eight days later as she neared India’s coastline armed men came aboard and returned her to Dubai as part of a ‘rescue mission’.
She had not been seen or heard from until February this year when she claimed she was being held hostage in a number of videos she sent to friends.
The princess claims she was being held in ‘solitary confinement’ and appeared to film herself in the bathroom of a villa with ‘barred windows and police guards’.
After being brought back from Indian waters, she claims she was beaten, drugged and thrown in the villa, which had been converted into her jail. Her father, who denies these claims, says Princess Latifa was tricked into leaving by criminals who wanted money from her.