Emirati princess Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum visited the volcano in Geldingadalir a few days ago along with her uncle, Marcus Essabri, according to an Instagram post by British woman Sioned Taylor.
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Latifa hit the world headlines in 2018 when she tried to flee from Dubai in an almost Hollywood-esque situation, escaping by changing clothes in a bathroom and then eluding her bodyguard. She managed to travel to neighbouring state Oman and from there boarded an American ship to India. That said, she was then caught and subsequently brought back to Dubai to her father, Sheikh Muhammed bin Rashid al Maktoum.
The case of the princess caught international attention when she published a dramatic video online where she told the world that she was a prisoner and hadn’t been allowed to travel, study nor live in any way that could be perceived as normal for a free person. The repercussions of this were that the United Nations demanded a confirmation that the princess was still alive and a campaign was assembled called Free Latifa. Among those running the organisation was Latifa’s friend from Finland, Tiina Jauhiainen—the same that helped her escape in 2018.
BBC interviewed David High, one of the founders of Free Latifa, where he said that the princess is now freer than she has been past 20 years. Of course, this still doesn’t necessarily imply that she is a free woman entirely.
Following Latifa’s trip to the volcano, the Free Latifa issued a statement saying the campaign has now been dismantled.
“Following the meeting… it has been decided that the most appropriate step at this time is to close the Free Latifa campaign,” the statement read. “The primary purpose of [the] campaign was to see Latifa free leading the life she chooses for herself… We have clearly gone a long way towards achieving that goal.”
Of course, time will tell if Latifa’s situation is improving to an appropriate degree. That said, we hope she had a great time at the volcano.
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