Irish Examiner view: 'Horrible trick' really on Princess Latifa

Mary Robinson spoke out about also being duped by Dubai ruler

In this Saturday, December 15, 2018 photo, released on Monday, Dec. 24, 2018, by the United Arab Emirates' Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum, a daughter of Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, left, meets Mary Robinson, a former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and former president of Ireland, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Picture: via AP)

FORMER president Mary Robinson has said she felt “horribly tricked” by the family of Princess Latifa of Dubai, who claims she is being held against her will. After meeting her in the emirate in 2018, at the request of her mother, Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, Mrs Robinson described Latifa as a "troubled young woman... in the loving care of her family".

That meeting was used by the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, to discount widespread allegations that he had arranged his daughter’s abduction after she fled in February of that year.