Tiina Jauhiainen tried to help her best friend leave her stifling, traditional existence as the daughter of Dubai’s ruler. But in a dramatic intervention at sea, the princess was returned to the UAE. A year on, Jauhiainen is campaigning for Latifa’s freedom
“I wish I’d said something to her when they were taking her away,” says Tiina Jauhiainen, looking down at her now cold tea. We are in a cafe in central London, but Jauhiainen’s mind is 5,000 miles away in the Arabian sea, reliving the night of 4 March 2018, when she attempted to help her best friend escape from her family. “There were guns everywhere. Latifa was screaming and kicking. But I was paralysed with fear. I couldn’t say a word.” She pauses. “I just wish that I’d said, I’m sorry this has failed. That I’d told her I love her.”
That was the last time that Jauhiainen, 42, saw Latifa bint Mohammed al-Maktoum, the 33-year-old daughter of Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, ruler of Dubai and the prime minister of the United Arab Emirates. The women were captured and separately taken back to Dubai – the emirate from which they had been trying to escape. But while Jauhiainen was released after a fortnight, Latifa’s whereabouts are still unknown.
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