Life is precious, love is more expensive, if it is for freedom, both can be thrown away.
In February 2021, the BBC suddenly exposed a video of a distress call, which was owned by Princess Ratifa of Dubai.
In the video, Latifa has changed her former glamorous beauty in front of the media, and she has become gaunt and pitiful.
She seemed to be holding back a stomach full of grievances, wanting to say it to everyone, but because she was too excited, she almost choked, and with a look of fear and uneasiness, she stopped from time to time to observe the dynamics outside the room.
And the place where she recorded the video is the bathroom, because this place is the only place that can be locked, keeping freedom and privacy.
According to Ratifa, she was imprisoned by her father in the villa prison for more than 3 years, and in order to prevent her from escaping, the windows of the room were sealed, almost like a caged bird.
There are 5 police officers outside the door, and there are two bodyguards who follow closely inside, without any privacy at all.
If you do not stay in the "prison" according to your father's request, you will lead to a storm of torture and verbal abuse.
Hearing this, the world can't help but be surprised, after all, the Dubai chief is a gentleman and elegant appearance outside, but hearing Princess Ratifa's description, the world doubts whether this is the same person.
As the daughter of Mohammed, the sheikh of Dubai, how did she offend her father and be imprisoned in the villa? Ultimately, where will her fate go? Let's take a look.
Gentlemen, good men of the family
Born in 1985, Ratifa, although nominally the envy of everyone as a Princess of the Royal Family of Dubai, grew up living a life under the fence.
After all, the marriage relationship of the Dubai royal family is complex, and regardless of the status of women, they are only tools for giving birth to children.
Ratifa's father alone, as the chief of Dubai, has 6 wives, but with the unremitting efforts of 6 wives, he has given birth to 30 children.
Ratifa's mother was not a relative of the Emperor and the state, nor did she have a rich and invincible maternal background, so she was naturally a little weaker, so she never appeared in front of the media.
For as long as I can remember, Latifa and her brother have lived in her aunt's house, and when she became an adult, she was allowed to attend an all-English girls' school in Dubai.
Because of Latifa's intelligence and hard work, she stood out among the brothers and sisters, which also made the chief's father have to be impressed.
In this way, Latifa quickly gained the favor of his father, and under the premise of learning that Latifa liked horsemanship, the chieftain's father did not hesitate to repair the horse farm and buy a BMW at a high price, hoping that Latifa could continue his love.
In addition, Latifa also loves taekwondo and skydiving, and the chief's father specially hired professional teachers to teach Latifa, and even approved Latifa's invitation to attend public events and participate in competitions.
It seems that there is nothing wrong with all this to outsiders, at least the chief father loves his daughter very much.
And her daughter Latifa has also been praised by outsiders, nothing more than her youth, enthusiasm, modernity, dashing, and she also has an open and wise father.
At that time, The Dubai sheikh Mohammed was not only a good man and a good father at home, but also an economic pillar in the country.
He single-handedly changed Dubai's single oil-dependent industry, and the tourism and hotel industry he vigorously promoted made Dubai stand tall and proud of the Middle East countries.
What everyone did not expect was that this seemingly polite, respectful, and forward-thinking chieftain was still rotten and stubborn behind his back, and he even provoked his wife and daughter to flee.
He fled for the first time and was imprisoned in a room
In 2000, Muhammad's daughter Samantha escaped from her mansion in Surrey, England, supposedly because Samantha wanted to pursue her studies freely and attend the university of her choice.
Muhammad granted only such a small wish. Perhaps in the eyes of the Middle Easterners at that time, women going out to school or working were shameful behaviors, which were to be poked in the spine by outsiders.
Seeing that her studies were fruitless, Samantha wanted to get rid of her father's control by running away from home.
As a woman, it was a disgrace to the royal family to be so deviant, and when Muhammad learned of this, he ordered his bodyguards to find the princess as soon as possible, even if the means were despicable and shameless.
Samantha, who had no experience in escaping, was quickly found by the royal family's eyeliner, after all, she single-handedly confronted the royal family, and it was useless to resist.
According to Samantha's account, she was coerced by four Arabs at gunpoint and tied into a car. Because he struggled so much, his father's men injected themselves with sleeping pills and quietly sent themselves back to Dubai when they were drowsy.
Upon her return to Dubai, Samantha was imprisoned in a dark room, where she repeatedly shouted and cried out for help, to no avail.
After each struggle, a new round of cruel torture and verbal humiliation was ushered in, and each time Samantha was exhausted and sore.
Muhammad, as the father, was naturally well aware of all this, but for the sake of royal dignity, he wanted to make an example, and he wanted to let all the royal wives and children look at him, so as not to repeat the same mistakes.
At that time, Latifa was the witness of this story. Perhaps at that time, Latifa did not know what freedom was, but she clearly remembered that her sister Samantha had tried to commit suicide many times and wanted to be liberated.
What a terrible cage it was, so terrible that people wanted to commit suicide, and Latifa was terrified every time she thought about it.
But as she grew older, the more advanced her education became, the more she could not agree with local values, which was sad among Dubai women.
Second escape, escape from death
After being bitten by a snake for ten years, he was afraid of the well rope, and because of his sister's previous experience, his father Muhammad was even more frantic about controlling his wife and children.
The most intolerable thing is that even latifa, whose father is much loved, is forbidden to leave Dubai for a step, and has a personal bodyguard at all times, monitoring everything he does.
This surveillance made Latifa so heavy that she couldn't breathe, and she wanted to go out and make friends, try out male and female love, go to places she had never been before, meet people she had never met.
Perhaps for Latifa, money and status could not buy her yearning for freedom, and the country she lived in did not allow a woman to do these things.
Desperate for life, Latifa had no choice but to choose her sister's old path.
But just as Latifa crossed the border between the UAE and Amman, she was found by her father's men and captured back in Dubai, and what awaited her was still 3 years and 4 months in prison.
This was only Latifa's first escape, and after being imprisoned, she could still see her mother and sister, but the matter of freedom was a dream of Huang Liang after all.
Latifa's mother was very distressed about her daughter and comforted Latifa: You are already very good, after all, some children can't save their lives, either dead or injured.
Perhaps it was her mother's words that made Latifa suddenly enlightened, although she was desperate, but there was hope for survival, and Latifa could only swallow her anger when she thought of this.
She used this imprisonment as a lesson, and although she had been humiliated and beaten for three years, she gritted her teeth and persevered.
Perhaps it was Muhammad, holding the last love for his daughter, and this imprisonment, that Latifa had a great transformation, or perhaps he really realized his mistake, and these actions gradually made Muhammad gradually soften his heart.
Slowly, Latifa gradually regained some of her freedom, and with nowhere to vent, she inexplicably fell in love with the extreme sports of equestrianism and skydiving.
It was also at this time that there were many opinions in the outside world, and there were rumors about Muhammad's favorite daughter, Latifa.
All the world sees is the overwhelming light of sin, for they cannot comprehend how much inhuman treatment Ratifa has endured in order to gain these short-lived freedoms.
Even with renewed sunshine and hope, Latifa never gave up on the idea of escaping from the royal family, she just wasn't fully prepared.
Three escapes, one dream
Finally, on February 24, 2018, Latifa and his friends planned an operation to escape to the high seas in an inflatable boat.
In order to make this escape a complete success, Latifa contacted the French businessman who had successfully escaped from Dubai.
With the help of the two men, Latifa soon boarded a yacht bound for the coast of India.
Seeing that she was getting farther and farther away from her hometown, Latifa became more and more excited, but in addition to the excitement, she was ready to be brought back to Dubai again.
On the 8th day of their escape, the three were arrested by the special agents sent by the chief and threatened to return to Dubai with guns.
In line with the position that the family's ugliness should not be publicized, the chief did not pursue the other two accomplices, but after a small severe punishment, the two were released in about 2 weeks.
But Ratifa has since disappeared from people's sight, and all the royal relatives have shut up about it, which is really surprising.
On March 11, some people who knew the inside story of Latifa's escape had to publish a video recorded by Latifa in advance in order to protect Latifa's human rights.
The reason for recording in advance is precisely because Ratifa is afraid of the failure of this escape operation and is afraid of being persecuted by the royal family, so he has a backhand in advance.
So there was the scene at the beginning of the editor, and once the video was exposed, rumors spread.
Ratifa even said bluntly in the video, "My father is the most evil devil in the world" "I live in a dark prison, and every day is either cruel torture or verbal humiliation." ”
When the public opinion controversy of the people became more and more intense, the official attitude began to change, and the initial low-key treatment turned into a relatively perfunctory reply, saying only that "Princess Latifa, who has always been friendly with her family, lives safely in Dubai." ”
Human life is at stake, and the royal family's perfunctory words alone naturally cannot appease people's hearts.
Therefore, under multiple pressures, the royal family could only borrow the chief's wife Princess Haya to eat with her friends, and specially arranged for Latifah to eat together, and took pictures of Latifah safe and sound and in good mental condition during the banquet.
Princess Haya and her friends have always been instilled by the people around Latifa, who has a somewhat dysfunctional concept of imprisoning life, so the two pay special attention to Latifa, and these evidences of booing and warming have also been photographed by people with hearts.
Such a deliberate act, coupled with the photos of the banquet, the enthusiastic crowd could only disperse, while pitifully Latifah's situation, and at the same time powerless to change.
The water fell out, and the court was in court
Things always come to light, but what everyone did not expect was that Princess Haya, who had previously helped the royal family to clear up the rumors, suddenly confronted the chief at this moment.
Only because the chief once again insisted on going his own way, forcibly marrying the daughter of the two who were not yet minors to another clumsy son of the royal family, a political marriage, from a family affair to an international scandal.
So the two broke up unhappily and could only negotiate a divorce, but when it came to the custody of the children, the two had their own opinions, did not compromise with each other, and could only be handed over to the court.
At this moment, people suddenly realized that this gentlemanly and courteous Chief of Dubai had always been in disguise.
After all, in Dubai, the status of women is inferior, royal men are more wives and concubines, children with soy sauce are everywhere, as long as they can keep their lives, who cares whether she is free and has love?
The law will eventually help the side of justice, and this time Princess Haya, with the momentum of her mother's family, caught the Dubai royal family off guard by this lawsuit.
However, in contrast, the imprisoned Latifa can only rely on contact with friends and send some imprisoned indoor photos every three to five to prove that he is still alive.
When will Latifa see freedom and light again? We don't know, but the status of women in Dubai should indeed be improved.