BAGGAGE
Seeking forced-
marriage protection
for her children,
Haya arrives
at London’s High
Court last July.Lying on the deck, Latifa kept repeating, “I am seeking
political asylum,” but the men wouldn’t listen. Soon an Emir-
ate warship pulled up, and those men began to board the boat.
“One of the crew members said, ‘These men are here to save
us from the Indians,’ but of course that’s not what was hap-
pening,” says Jauhiainen.
Dubai reportedly had gotten in touch with India’s prime
minister, Narendra Modi, with the alarming news that one of
Sheik Mohammed’s daughters had been kidnapped. “India
is dependent on UAE remittances from their citizens making
money in Dubai and sending it home—there’s seven-to-one
Indians to Emiratis in Dubai,” explains Jim Krane, the City of
Gold author. “That’s a lot of funds coming back home. They’re
eager to help Dubai where they can.”Latifa disappeared with some of the men. Jauhiainen and the
rest of the crew remained on the boat while the Indians looted
it, taking electronics and even Jauhiainen’s makeup. The boat
was then piloted to Dubai, where they were blindfolded, cuffed,
and imprisoned, Jauhiainen says. That evening, Jauhiainen’s
interrogation began: “They wanted to know who was behind
this and what the ultimate goal was. They couldn’t believe I
was just helping my friend who wants to be free.” She says the
guards talked about Latifa as if she were a minor who didn’t
know what was best for her or know the meaning of freedom.
To them, she had all the freedom a woman could possibly need
while living in the UAE.I
T’S UNCLEAR IF Jauhiainen or any of the crew would have
been let out of prison if it weren’t for a clever trick of Lat-
ifa’s: Before her departure, she posed in front of a white
wall next to pink drapes, her black hair pulled back in a pony-
tail, and recorded a 40-minute video explaining her problems
with Dubai and the sheik. “If you are watching this video, it’s
not such a good thing. Either I’m dead or in a very, very bad
situation.” She added, “Freedom of choice is not something
that we have. So when you have it, you take it for granted, and
when you don’t have it, it’s very, very, special.”
Latifa comes off as smart, frustrated, and extremely ratio-
nal. And between this viral video, now with more than 4 million
views, and, some months later, a BBC documentary—which
spurred the United Nations to request that Sheik Mohammed
furnish proof of life of his daughter at once—Dubai began to
feel pressure to publicly respond. (Jauhiainen was soon sprung
from prison, though she says guards tried to scare her upon
release, saying, “What happened to Princess Diana was not
an accident.”)
In the Arab world, behind closed doors, many questioned
whether Latifa was indeed arrested in the Indian Ocean; unlike
Saudi Arabia, the UAE is not known to often track down citizenswho have left the Emirates. But reporting
indicated that the story was true. “People
assume the richer you are, the more free-
dom you have [in the Gulf region], but it’s
almost the inverse—the more powerful
the family, the more they can force you
to return to the country,” says Rothna
Begum, women’s rights researcher for
the Middle East and North Africa region
at Human Rights Watch.
Whether Latifa was a reliable narra-
tor was a more persistent issue—many
couldn’t believe the sheik would treat his
own daughter with cruelty. “That’s not
the M.O. of Arab princes, to torture their
kids,” says the source with knowledge
of the region. “We’re all familiar with
claims of Saudi and UAE princes doing
all kinds of crazy stuff in hotels in Lon-
don, abusing Filipino maids, and weird
things in L.A. But the families have good
ways of covering that up: paying people
off, dismissing people.” Sheik Moham-
med had allegedly experienced the bad
behavior of princes with his eldest son,
who had a reputation for partying. A
Wikileaks cable revealed that the son
allegedly shot and killed one of the
sheik’s assistants, after which Moham-
med passed him over as his likely heir in
favor of his younger brother. The elder
son died after a heart attack at 33.
With Latifa back in Dubai yet remain-
ing out of sight, Sheik Mohammed came
under pressure—and his court thought
it prudent to release a statement saying
they were “aware and deeply saddened
by the continued media speculation
regarding Her Highness.” They were sim-
ply trying to create a “stable and happy
future” for Latifa, in privacy and peace.
The court also claimed the captain of the
ship and others had asked for a ransom of
$100 million to return Latifa; Jaubert has
reportedly maintained he was only paid
about $390,000 from Latifa for expenses
related to her escape.
The statement from the sheik’s court
fanned the flames of speculation. Now
everyone wanted to see Latifa, to know
she was copacetic with her return or at
least alive. And while Latifa and Haya
reportedly barely knew each other and
had met only at formal events, accord-
ing to Jauhiainen, Haya, whose global
reputation was utterly spotless until this
point, stepped into the breach. As a U.N.
Messenger of Peace, she had become
friendly with Mary Robinson, the first
female president of Ireland in the 1990s.“ Yo u’ r e e s s e n t i a l l y
a prisoner.... You don’thave a normal life.”