The Fugitive Princess Forced to Return to Dubai
The Political Scene | The New Yorker
The New Yorker
4.3 • 3.9K Ratings
🗓️ 3 May 2023
⏱️ 43 minutes
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Summary
In 2018, Sheikha Latifa of Dubai made a daring attempt to escape her home country. Her plan was to hide in the trunk of a car, launch a dinghy, reach a yacht, sail to India or Sri Lanka, and then fly to the United States to claim asylum. But, in the middle of the Arabian Sea, a team of armed men stormed the boat and forced Latifa back to Dubai. The commandos had been sent at the request of her father, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and the ruler of Dubai. The Sheikh has been praised by world leaders as a modernizer and a champion for women’s advancement in the Middle East, all while subjecting Latifa and other women in his family to confinement and abuse (charges that he has denied). Heidi Blake, a staff writer at The New Yorker, spent many months reporting on what led the princess to flee, and on the consequences that she faced. She joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss the Dubai royal family’s patriarchal system of control and the women who tried to break free.
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| 0:48.5 | Hello, my name is Latif Al-Makhton. |
| 0:51.4 | I was born on December 5, 1985. My mom is Hurria Ahmed Lamara. She's from Algeria. My father is the |
| 1:01.5 | Prime Minister of UAE and the ruler of Dubai, Muhammad bin Rashid Saida Maktoum. |
| 1:07.8 | In 2018, a princess from Dubai |
| 1:11.1 | sneaked over to a friend's apartment and made a video recording. |
| 1:15.0 | It could be the last video I make. |
| 1:22.0 | Pretty soon, I'm going to be leaving somehow. |
| 1:30.2 | She was 32 years old, and she was planning an escape. |
| 1:34.0 | She would hide in the trunk of a car, launch a dinghy, and reach a yacht by jet ski. |
| 1:39.0 | Then she'd sail to India or Sri Lanka and fly to the United States to claim asylum. |
| 1:50.0 | I'm 99% positive it will work. And if it doesn't, then this video can help me because all my father cares about this has reputation. |
| 1:57.0 | He will kill people to protect his own reputation. If the escape plan failed, her friends were instructed to release the video. |
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