More than four years later, many gray areas remain around the disappearance of Princess Latifa, a daughter of the ruler of Dubai. Her Finnish friend with whom she had been intercepted at sea while trying to help her flee the Emirates, announced Thursday that she had filed a complaint in Germany for “torture and kidnapping”.
In March 2018, Princess Latifa, daughter of Mohammed ben Rached al-Maktoum, tried to flee the Emirates by yacht with Tiina Jauhiainen, her Finnish capoeira coach. But on the night of March 4 to 5, their boat was intercepted by the Indian Navy, which towed the yacht to the United Arab Emirates.
Tiina Jauhiainen claims to have been “arbitrarily arrested and tortured by the security forces of the Emirates who worked with the Indian navy”. She says she was subjected to long interrogations without a lawyer, and forced to sign a confession by the services of the Emirates, who accused her of having “kidnapped” Princess Latifa.
“To try to help my friend Latifa”
“I start my fight today for justice, for what I went through trying to help my friend Latifa,” she tweeted on Thursday. “My lawyers filed a complaint in Germany asking the prosecutor to investigate those responsible, including the ruler of Dubai and the head of Interpol (Ahmed Nasser) al-Raisi,” she added.
A lawyer for the Finnish, Elisabeth Baier, indicated that the complaint was based on the principle of universal judicial competence, which allows the justice of a State to prosecute the perpetrators of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide where that they have been committed.
“Not yet” proof of life from him
“We hope that Germany’s law on universal jurisdiction will help protect victims of torture, enable them to obtain justice, and close Germany’s doors to those who perpetrate it,” she said. in a press release. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office was unable to immediately confirm that it had registered the complaint.
Princess Latifa said in a statement in February that she was doing “very well” and asked the media to respect her privacy. In March 2021, the UN claimed “not yet” to have proof of life from him.
The High Court in London, seized by the sixth wife of the ruler of Dubai, who took refuge in the British capital in 2019, concluded that Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum had “consistently displayed coercive and manipulative behavior towards members of his family whom he considers to be acting contrary to his will”.
French justice for its part opened a new investigation at the end of March against the Emirati president of Interpol, Ahmed Nasser al-Raisi, for “complicity in torture” after the complaint of two Britons in the name of universal jurisdiction.