Today, on international Mother day, Tiina Jauhiainen, the best friend of kidnapped Dubai Princess, Sheikha Latifa Al Maktoum has called on Latifa’s estranged Mother Houria Lamara to help free Latifa.

In a heartwarming letter, sent today to Latifa’s mothers home at her family home of Al Wasl Road Palace, Dubai – Tiina said

“I am writing to you to respectfully as that you help me in freeing your daughter. Please help set a good example for this world, please do the right thing and help free Latifa”

“I am not a Muslim, but having lived in Dubai for many years I respect your faith. It is my understanding that the holy month of Ramadan is said to be a month of compassion and forgiveness. It is therefore that during the holy month of Ramadan and today on mothers day that I respectfully appeal to you not just as a human being, a Muslim but as a mother not to continue being complicit in the arbitrary detention and abuse of your daughter Latifa and to help Latifa and bring an end to her suffering.”

The letter was released together with never seen before family photos of the Al Maktoum family. In very personal photos, Latifa’s mother is seen publicly by many for the first time.

On the release of the never before seen photos, David Haigh a human rights lawyer and campaigner working on behalf of Latifa said “thanks to many of Latifa’s close friends we now have hundreds of unreleased pictures and videos of Latifa and her family. She entrusted these to her close friends before her escape attempt with the instructions to use them as necessary”.

Houria Lamara’s mother kidnapped Princess, Sheikha Latifa Al Maktoum, and wife of Dubai ruler Sheikha Mohamed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in her earlier years.

 

Two more of Princess Latifa’s close friends have joined Free Latifa campaign director and Latifa’s best friend Tiina Jauhiainen to manage the official campaign to free Princess Latifa.

Latifa’s close friends Stefania Martinengo and Marko Remes have joined the campaign team to work alongside Campaign Director and Princess Latifa’s best friend Tiina and Human rights lawyer and campaigner David Haigh.

Following a number of third parties seeking to claim the ability to represent Princess Latifa, whilst simultaneously seeking to promote unauthorized and inaccurate books, and movie scripts on her brave life story, whilst Latifa remains detained, Latifa’s closest and longstanding friends have felt the need to come even closer together to protect Latifa’s name, legacy and tell the true story of Princess Latifa’s bravery – dedicated simply to Free Latifa.

Stefania was born in Italy and is a Skydiving Instructor. Viewers of the BBC Documentary Escape from Dubai will recognize Stefania, who featured in the heart-breaking documentary as one of Latifa’s close friends. Stefania met Latifa at the beginning of 2014 when Stefania was working at skydiving instructor at Skydive Dubai.

Stefania told freelatifa.com about Latifa and how they met “We began skydiving training together and shortly became good friends. I discovered her to be a beautiful person, fun, loving, caring, open-minded and intelligent. I became truly fond of her, I miss her very much. I think it’s important that she is not forgotten and with her any other in her absurd situation.”

Stefania continued telling freelatifa.com “There is no educational system, no Nation, no one who could be supported to take away the basic human rights of freedom to innocent people. If we allow and accept, we are truly degrading ourselves.”

“I hope that we all together raise our voice so that Latifa will be freed.”

Marko is a Finnish marketing executive. Marko first met Latifa in 2015 through Tiina Jauhiainen, who Marko has been friends with for over 20 years.

Marko, speaking to freelatifa.com said “I remember well when Tiina first introduced me to Latifa, she seemed shy, but after a few meetings she opened up and we became good friends. I often met with Tiina and Latifa either in shopping malls or in skydiving circles in Dubai. Latifa is lots of fun and an incredibly caring and supportive friend who always puts others first. She loves surprising friends, especially on birthdays. Latifa’s harrowing story has been incredibly painful for me to follow in the media. The nightmare began when Tiina went missing on 4th March 2018, I was there, watching and waiting and like many of Tiina’s and Latifa’s trusted friends I have never stopped fighting for the freedom of my friend Latifa.

Latifa is an amazing person, she has so much to offer her friends, but also to the world, yet she is kept in captivity.”

“I’m part of #FreeLatifa campaign not only because Latifa is my dear friend, but also because of the blatant abuse of human rights like this should never happen to anyone. Everyone can contribute to this campaign by sharing the story and by making decisions as I’ve made: I’ll never set my foot in the UAE again, or fly Emirates – supporting their tourism sector means supporting a ruthless regime with absolute disregard to human rights. Together we are more – let’s not give up until Latifa is free!”

 

Reliable sources have confirmed that leading Emirati human rights activist, Ahmed Mansoor, has been on hunger strike for nearly three weeks in protest over his inhumane detention conditions and unfair trial.

He is allegedly being held in solitary confinement, in a cell with no bed or running water, and with no access to a shower, local sources told the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, who added that is health had deteriorated significantly since being detained in al-Sadr prison.

Ahmed Mansoor is one of the world’s most prominent human rights defenders. Over the years he has worked extensively with international organizations to advocate for basic civil and political rights in the UAE. He has a seat on the advisory committee at Human Rights Watch and the Gulf Centre for Human Rights.

In May 2018, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for “defaming the UAE through social media channels.” An appeal to overturn this verdict was rejected on 31 December 2018.

Prior to his trial Ahmed Mansoor was held without charge for over a year in an unverified location and was denied the right to appoint a lawyer of his choosing. Nor did he have access to independent legal counsel during his trial.

His case has sparked significant international condemnation. Notably, from a number of United Nations human rights experts, the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on human rights (DROI), the European Parliament and multiple human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, who have repeatedly called for the annulment of his sentence and his immediate and unconditional release.

ICFUAE Statement

“ICFUAE reiterates its calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Ahmed Mansoor. Pending this, however, we urge the Emirati authorities to treat him in line with the UN’s Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, which guarantees the provision of medical care and sanitary prison conditions. To ensure this, it is imperative that international NGOs be allowed access to al-Sadr prison to visit Mansoor. In reality, all that Ahmed is guilty of is raising awareness of the systematic human rights violations in his country. He must be released. “

ENDS

1. For more information or comment, please contact ICFUAE at joe@icfuae.org.uk or 44 7979 6666 98

2.For the original story, please see https://www.gc4hr.org/news/view/2109

The winners of Amnesty International UK’s prestigious Media Awards 2019 have been announced at a ceremony in London this evening, with the BBC Documentary of Princess Latifa taking the most prestigious award for best documentary.

Amnesty’s Media Awards, which have been running annually since 1992, celebrate excellence in human rights journalism and applaud the courage and determination of journalists who often put their lives on the line to report on vital human rights issues.

The ceremony was held at Bafta in central London and was hosted by journalist and Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman.

Escape from Dubai: The Mystery of the Missing Princess was produced by the BBC World’s current affairs team for BBC two with the Free Latifa campaign group director Tiina Jauhiainenand David Haigh. The BBC documentary crew were the first media that Tiina Jauhiainenand the team met in London in April 2018 when they were released from the UAE secret prison and David Haigh and the team have worked tirelessly with the BBC to produce the groundbreaking documentary, which ultimately saw the UAE forced to reveal the whereabouts of Latifa after 9 months of their silence. The BBC crew were given exclusive access to the team and filmed across the world from Cornwall to Manilla.

David Haigh said “Tiina and I worked around the clock for almost 8 months with the amazingly said and passionate BBC team, Sam, Jane, and Sarah. On choosing the production team it was critical to us to ensure that they would tell the true story, which needed bravely and passion and this team had it in bags”

Tiina Jauhiaien added “the BBC has done my brave friend and her courage bid for freedom justice. Now we just need to get her free so she can sit with me and watch HER documentary”.

Kate Allen, the director of Amnesty UK said: “Without a free press, it’s extremely difficult to expose wrong-doing and hold leaders to account” and “Our awards are about congratulating the achievements of the media and championing its role in creating a fairer, more open-world”. Escape From Dubai has helped us raise awareness on Latifa’s plight and has changed many people’s views on UAE as a safe holiday destination to a more realistic one.

During the ceremony, there was a moment of reflection for the 89 journalists who were imprisoned last year for their work. The event was also used to highlight the case of Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney- two Northern Ireland journalists who could potentially face prison sentences for exposing police collusion in a massacre of six civilians in Loughin island in 1994. The pair gave a speech about their experiences during the ceremony.

The winners:

News (Broadcast)

• Channel 4 News (Pacha Films) -Riding the Death Train to the US

Judges: Ronke Phillips (ITV); Nevine Mabro (Channel 4 News); Sarah Sands (BBC Radio 4 Today); Peter Diaper (Sky News); Harriet Garland (Amnesty).

Features

• Corinne Redfern, Elle UK & Fuller Project for International Reporting – The Warriors: My Husband Sold Me To A Brothel

Judges: Lucy Pasha-Robinson (HuffPost UK); Anna Silverman (Grazia); Nosheen Iqbal (Observer); Emma Gatten (Telegraph); Sharon Lougher (Metro); Niall Couper (Amnesty).

Radio and Podcasts

• BBC Radio 4 (Falling Tree Productions) -Lights Out: A Sense of Quietness

Judges: Sirin Kale (Broadly, VICE); Felicity Finch (The Archers); Nick Rotherham (BBC); Jonathan Rugman (Channel 4 News); Sam Lawlor (Amnesty).

Student Journalist

• Claisse Opulencia, Canterbury Christ Church University -Canterbury Landlords Offering Free Rent for Sex

Judges: Aimee Meade (Metro); Megha Mohan (BBC); Tina Moran (Press Association); Kirstie O’Mahony (Women in Media/BBC); Ella Berny (Amnesty).

Gaby Rado Award for Best New Journalist

• Joe Wallen-The Telegraph

Judges: Eleanor McDowall (Falling Tree Productions); Liliane Landor (Channel 4 News); Paul Waugh (HuffPost UK); Louis Rado; Harriet Garland (Amnesty).

Investigation

• Reuters -Myanmar Burning

Judges: Cait FitzSimons (5 News); Sue Turton (Channel 4 Unreported World); Toby Castle (BBC); Miriam Wells (Bureau of Investigative Journalism); Cora Bauer (Amnesty).

Regional Media

• BBC Northern Ireland – Spotlight: Buried Secrets

Judges: Toby Granville (Newsquest); James Stewart (BBC); Matthew Barraclough (BBC); Gail Walker (Belfast Telegraph); Patrick Corrigan (Amnesty).

Photojournalism

• Giles Duley (Humanity Magazine) -We are here because we are strong

Judges: Phil Coomes (BBC); Paul Conroy (photojournalist and documentary maker); Claire Thomas (freelance); Liz Jobey (Financial Times Weekend Magazine); Rich Cowley (Amnesty).

Innovation

• Al Jazeera Digital -Lost Childhoods: Nigeria’s fear of ‘witchcraft’ ruins young lives

Judges: Mustafa Khalili (BBC); Shehani Fernando (freelance VR director); Sam Joiner (The Times); Mohit Bakaya (BBC Radio 4 Factual); Laurie Hanna (Amnesty).

News (Written Word)

• Ian Birrell, The Mail on Sunday –Locked Up For Autism

Judges: George Arbuthnot (Sunday Times); Emily Retter (Daily Mirror); Olivia Alabaster (Independent); Claire Newell (Telegraph); Harriet Garland (Amnesty).

Documentaries

• BBC Two – Escape from Dubai: The Mystery of the Missing Princess

Judges: Fran Baker (Blakeway North); Chris Shaw (ITN); Nawal Al-Maghafi (BBC); Nick Springate (BBC); Neil Durkin (Amnesty).

Impact Award

• Amelia Gentleman & The Guardian –Windrush Scandal

Judges: Kate Allen (Director, Amnesty UK); Kerry Moscogiuri (Director of Campaigns and Communications, Amnesty UK); Thomas Schultz-Jagow (Senior Director, Campaigns and Communications, Amnesty International Secretariat).

The full Media Awards 2019 shortlist can be found here.

Amnesty International USA and Amnesty International Canada will similarly honor journalists in their own countries this week, highlighting global work to promote human rights issues in the press.

Read the full press release here: https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/amnesty-media-awards-2019-winners-announced

 

The official campaign to free Princess Latifa Al Maktoum has confirmed that it has terminated its relationship with, and support for, Mr. Hervé Jaubert with immediate effect. The termination of support follows leading international Human rights lawyer Mr. Toby Cadman of Guernica Chambers, who represented Mr. Jaubert for the past year, also terminating his services, and Haigh International Justice

who had also represented Mr. Jaubert for the past year terminating its services.

Tiina Jauhiainen, campaign director of Free Latifa and Princess Latifa’s best friend said: “We no longer wish to have any association with Hervé Jaubert.”

Ms. Jauhiainen continued “Latifa was aware that Mr. Jaubert was not assisting her for any reason other than his own financial gain, however, the information that has now come to light would shock Latifa as it has shocked me.”

“Neither I nor the campaign, support Mr. Jaubert’s attempts to further benefit from Latifa’s bid for freedom, financially or otherwise. Specifically, we do not support Mr. Jaubert’s website www.princesslatifa.com, nor the proposed book that, in our opinion, wrongly paints the picture of Mr. Jaubert as a hero.”

“Mr. Jaubert is now seemingly claiming to represent Latifa, nothing could be further from the truth, nor further than what Latifa wants. To be clear Latifa appointed David Haigh and me in writing, and both of us continue to help her since she was taken”

David Haigh concluded, “I would urge any media outlet, publisher or other providers of information not to assist Mr. Jaubert in destroying Latifa’s chances of freedom any further.”

 

About Free Latifa:

The Free Latifa Campaign is run by Latifa’s best friend Tiina Jauhiainen and human rights lawyer and campaigner David Haigh with the support of not for profit legal advocacy NGO Detained International and Haigh International Justice. Updates on the campaign can be found on www.freelatifa.com

Contact Name
Tiina Jauhiainen and David Haigh

Campaign to Free Latifa
Email: latifa@freelatifa.com
Telephone: + 44 (0) 203 868 9995
Twitter: @freelatifa
Facebook: @freelatifa
Instagram: @freelatifa

The UN warned Dubai’s ruling family that it intended to publicize concerns that Princess Latifa may have been killed days before photographs of her with Mary Robinson surfaced, claims the Times newspaper today.

Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed al-Maktoum, daughter of Dubai’s ruler, tried to flee in March last year, claiming that she had suffered years of abuse at the hands of her family.

Nine days before Mary Robinson was pictured with Princess Latifa in the first evidence Latifa was still alive, the UN warned Dubai it was about to go public over her disappearance. The UN working group on enforced and Involuntary dissonances made it clear – they thought the princess was dead and wanted answers.

The announcement follows Latifa’s lawyer and representative David Haigh and Tiina Jauhiainen together with leading human rights barrister Toby Cadman filing a UN complaint with the UN working group in April 2018.

The Times reported, “Human rights groups [including Detained International] had described Mrs. Robinson, also a former UN high commissioner for human rights, as a “willing pawn” for the family that rules the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after she claimed that Sheikha Latifa was a “troubled young woman” who needed psychiatric help. Correspondence seen by The Times shows that the UN’s working group on enforced or involuntary disappearances wrote to Dubai’s ruling family on December 6 with information it had received about Sheikha Latifa.”

Princess Latifa’s lawyer, Haigh International Justice, and Detained International founder David Haigh said “We are thankful to the UN working group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances for taking the case of Princess Latifa and supporting her, it is thanks in part to their work and the media attention that the UAE was forced to take the unprecedented step of confirming it had abducted Latifa” Haigh continued “now that we know Princess Latifa is alive, we are all focused, with Amnesty and Human Rights Watch and millions of supporters around the world on securing her freedom”

Read the full article by Peter O’Dwyer.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/e7899f0c-444a-11e9-924d-9729bcd51a7f

 

About Free Latifa: The Free Latifa Campaign is run by Latifa’s best friend Tiina Jauhiainen and human rights lawyer and campaigner David Haigh with the support of Detained International and Haigh International Justice. Tiina Jauhiainen and David Haigh were appointed by Princess Latifa in 2018 as her sole representatives. Updates on the campaign to free Latifa can be found on the campaign website www.freelatifa.com

The respected US TV news show NBC Tonight with Lester Holt featured the story of Princess Latifa. The NBC team traveled to Cornwall to meet with Tiina Jauhiainen and David Haigh and filmed the Free Latifa campaign at work.

The NBC news piece, titled “This Princess has been missing for over a year” aired on the Lester Holt new show and is now available of n the NBC news app.

Tiina Jauhiainen spoke to NBC’s Matt Bradley after the first anniversary of the escape.

Princess Latifa’s lawyer at Haigh International Justice and Detained International, David Haigh said “We want to thank NBC for the considerable time they put into bringing the story of our friend and client Princess Latifa to their viewers. Every day more and more people learn of brave Latifa’s quest for freedom and every day thousand more people support her, support which will ultimately lead to her freedom and ability to live the life she chooses for herself”

Watch the NBC News here

https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/this-princess-has-been-missing-for-over-a-year-1455174723649

 

About Free Latifa: The Free Latifa Campaign is run by Latifa’s best friend Tiina Jauhiainen and human rights lawyer and campaigner David Haigh with the support of Detained International and Haigh International Justice. Tiina Jauhiainen and David Haigh were appointed by Princess Latifa in 2018 as her sole representatives. Updates on the campaign to free Latifa can be found on the campaign website www.freelatifa.com