Calls for Sheikh Maktoum to free daughters he kidnapped so they can 'seek asylum abroad' as Princess Latifa's best friend says: 'Now the world knows and the abuses can no longer be covered up'
- Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum had his daughters kidnapped, court found
- Princess Latifa was taken by Indian soldiers from a yacht and returned to Dubai
- Her friend Tiina Jauhiainen says she now hopes Latifa will 'finally get justice'
The ruler of Dubai is facing calls to free the daughters he kidnapped so they can 'seek asylum abroad'.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, 70, 'ordered and orchestrated' the abduction of Princess Shamsa in 2002, and then her sister Sheikha Latifa during her escape bid in 2018 - with both being forcibly returned to the UAE, according to a court ruling.
The sheikh was also found to have waged a campaign of 'fear and intimidation' against his youngest wife, Princess Haya, who fled to Britain last year fearing that he would kill her.
The court found he masterminded behaviour which, on the balance of probabilities, potentially runs 'contrary to the criminal law of England and Wales, international law and internationally accepted human rights norms'.
Latifa, now 34, had been taken by Indian soldiers from a yacht 30 miles from Goa and forcibly returned to Dubai.
![Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum was found to have waged a campaign of 'fear and intimidation' against his youngest wife, Princess Haya (both pictured)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/03/06/17/25633904-8083667-image-a-1_1583516354713.jpg)
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum was found to have waged a campaign of 'fear and intimidation' against his youngest wife, Princess Haya (both pictured)
![Princess Latifa and her best friend Tiina Jauhiainen in a selfie on the road to Oman on the first leg of their journey in 2018](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/03/06/17/25633832-8083667-image-a-2_1583516396915.jpg)
Princess Latifa and her best friend Tiina Jauhiainen in a selfie on the road to Oman on the first leg of their journey in 2018
Amnesty International are calling for Dubai and the UAE to 'allow her to speak and travel freely, including seeking asylum abroad, if she wishes to do so'.
And Latifa's best friend Tiina Jauhiainen, who helped her to escape, has told MailOnline that the princess is still being detained and she hopes that now her story can be told, she can finally get justice.
She said: 'I feel both relieved and happy that this long court process has now come to an end and the outcome of these proceedings can be reported publicly.
'However, I am also saddened that although the English High Court has concluded unequivocally that Latifa was unlawfully kidnapped, she is still being held against her will.
'I am hoping that as the reporting restrictions have now been lifted, both Latifa and I will finally receive justice and she will be set free after over two years of captivity and with that in mind Latifa's legal team have already written to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary disappearances that is investigating Latifa's disappearance.'
Ms Jauhiainen had also told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'Now finally the whole world knows that Sheikh Mohammed did indeed kidnap two of his daughters Latifa and Shamsa and he can no longer cover up the abuses.
Responding to yesterday's High Court finding that Sheikh Mohammed abducted, detained and subjected his daughter Sheikha Latifa to sustained ill-treatment, Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International's Middle East Research Director, said: 'This ruling is a long-overdue step towards justice for Sheikha Latifa, who has been held incommunicado for two years now.
![Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, 70, 'ordered and orchestrated' the abduction of Princess Shamsa (pictured) in 2002](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/03/06/17/25633948-8083667-image-a-3_1583516426745.jpg)
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, 70, 'ordered and orchestrated' the abduction of Princess Shamsa (pictured) in 2002
'Dubai and the UAE must now allow her to speak and travel freely, including seeking asylum abroad, if she wishes to do so.
'Throughout the hearing, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid has insisted these are ''private family matters'' - but state-sanctioned abduction and inhuman treatment is not a family affair.
'It is a serious human rights violation, and a matter of international concern.
'Federal law in the UAE leaves women unprotected and undermined, which too often leaves them vulnerable to abuse by male family members.'
Sir Andrew McFarlane, the president of the family division of the High Court, had said in his ruling: 'The allegations that the father ordered and orchestrated the kidnap and rendition to Dubai of his daughters Shamsa and Latifa are of a very high order of seriousness.
'I have found he continues to maintain a regime whereby both of these young women are deprived of their liberty.'
The sheikh's lawyers rejected the allegations, made by Haya's legal team and later backed by McFarlane in his 'findings of fact'.
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