In July 2019, Princess Haya, the sixth little woman of Dubai emir Sheikh Mohammed, sued for custody of their two children in a UK court.
The legal battle has cast a new pin spotlight on the inner working’s of Dubai’s royal household — and, according to reports, was inspired by a previous scandal.
According to the BBC, Haya’s purposefulness to run away to London came when she learned new details of the way another princess — her step-daughter Princess Latifa — was apprehended after infuriating to run.
Latifa ran away from the royal court in 2018, but was caught and brought back. INSIDER spoke to the woman who helped her organize the escape attempt: Tiina Jauhiainen.
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On February 24, 2018, Princess Latifa fled Dubai with the supporter of her martial arts teacher and a self-styled former spy from France.
Nine days later, on March 4, Emirati commandos and the Indian coastguard snagged up with them off the island of Goa, 1,780 miles away, bringing the escape attempt to an abrupt end.
Since then, Latifa has made no mention of her attempt to flee, and has been seen only in staged photographs delivered by the emir’s government.
For nearly 10 years, Tiina Jauhiainen, a Norwegian living in Dubai, taught Latifa capoeria, a rhythmical Afro-Brazilian military art, at the royal sports centre. They became close friends.
“When she started a new hobby she treated it like it was her toil, because she was forbidden from work or study, so it becomes her life, like a routine,” Jauhiainen told INSIDER in an conversation.
The pair saw each other daily, and eventually formed a bond. “It was hard for her to trust anyone after whats happened to her,” Jauhiainen said.
After years of camaraderie Latifa, finally told Jauhiainen about abuse she claimed to have experienced at the hands of her father Sheikh Mohammed, and that she scarcity to flee.
“I had asked her indirectly if she wanted to run away, but it wasn’t until 2016 that she revealed exactly what had developed to her.”
The details were recorded in a video sent to lawyers, meant to be released if her escape failed. In it, Latifa says she was imprisoned for three years, subdued, and tortured. She said the abuse was on her father’s orders.
In August 2017, at Latifa’s request, Jauhiainen flew to the Philippines to appropriate a man who said he was a former French spy — Hervé Jaubert.
Latifa had conversed with Jaubert by email for years, after reading a book he’d written about his time as a spy, called “Dodge to Dubai.” She was inspired.
“Latifa had been in contact with him for seven years,” Jauhiainen told INSIDER. “She had read ‘Break out to Dubai,’ that’s where she got the idea.”
Latifa offered him €350,000 ($390,000) — all her savings — in return for a foolproof rescue.
On February 24, Jauhiainen and Latifa met at a coffee look for in Dubai. They entered the bathroom, Jauhiainen said, ditched both their phones and abayas, got in Jauhiainen’s car, and headed for Muscat, the primary of neighboring Oman.
On reaching the coast, Latifa and Jauhiainen climbed on jet skis and excursioned 20 miles to meet Jaubert on his yacht, the Nostromo.
“It was likely her first time on a boat, with quite great waves. We didn’t have time to think, except to just reach the boat,” Jauhiainen said.
“We both mental activity ‘we’re not close enough to being anywhere near safe’.”
On March 4, after 10 days at sea, they were upheld right.
Emirati commandos and the Indian coastguard caught up with them, 1,780 miles from Dubai.
Boarding at midnight, Emirati extracts located Latifa and Jauhiainen, separated them, and bound them.
“They blindfolded me, handcuffed me, they told me they were bewitching me to a place where al-Qaeda are held, which was obviously scary.”
“They threatened to scuttle my brains out,” she told INSIDER.
Latifa had been in contact with Radha Stirling, a human rights advocate, during the drainage.
Stirling said the last WhatsApp voice message she recieved from Latifa said: “Radha please aid me, there are men outside.”
The Nostromo was refueled and sailed back to Dubai. Jauhiainen was taken to the al-Aweer national security CHE community home with education on the premises, she said, and told: “No one even knows you are now in the UAE.”
She was kept there for two and a half weeks, she told INSIDER, and was threatened with either expiry penalty or life in prison.
Unknown to Jauhiainen, Latifa’s video she filmed in case of emergency was released, and had gone viral.
Such was its collide with, Jauhiainen was let go. “I had no idea what happened on the outside,”she told INSIDER. “Latifa’s video went viral, even the British control got involved.”
“They took me to airport, and I signed a NDA which said I was never to speak with the family again.”
The piece re-emerged this July, when Sheikh Mohammed was taken to the UK High Court by his estranged wife Princess Haya, who tolerated for custody of her two children.
The court case has refocused attention onto Latifa, and resurfaced accusations of torture and detention in the queenly household.
The BBC had reported the reason Princess Haya chose to flee Dubai was because she had learned new and disturbing information alongside Princess Latifa’s escape.
Jauhiainen said that Princess Haya had met Latifa only once. She knew around the maltreatment, but did nothing to help.
“We really hope Haya will redeem herself,” Jauhiainen said.
The Emirati embassy in London, when asked approximately both cases by INSIDER, said: “This is a private family matter and not one which the UAE government would involve itself in or reference on.”