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Mary Robinson and the Princess

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  • Registered Users Posts: 19,587 ✭✭✭✭Muahahaha


    Yeah I think there is two main issues. One is that Mary Robinson is not a psychiatrist so her making pronouncements on Latifas medical state is of no use whatsoever and I dont know what the UN were thinking in accepting that report back to them. Its one thing for Robinson to go out there and check for 'proof of life' and an entirely different thing to be making assessments that everything is grand, she just needs medical help which she is getting, nothing to see here, etc

    The second seems to be how Robinson got tricked/deceived into this family lunch in Dubai. AFAIK at the time Haya genuinely believed the line been spun to her by the Sheikh that Latifa was troubled and had mental health problems. Haya set up the family lunch with Robinson on this basis to show the world that Latifa was fine and just needed medical attention, which was exactly the line the Sheikh wanted to spin to the UN and the media.

    It was only after that family lunch that Haya visited Latifa and she said she collapsed in her arms crying and gave her the full story of her kidnapping and abduction by the Indian commandos working on behalf of the UAE government. During this abduction on the yacht in the Indian ocean Latifa pleaded with the Indian soldiers to shoot her now as she didnt want to go back to the UAE alive. It seems that Haya got more and more concerned about Latifa and tried to mediate with the Sheikh but he got angry and ordered her to keep her nose out of his business and to no longer contact Latifa. Sometime thereafter Haya did her own runner to London where she remains now.

    I think it is likely that Robinson got royally shafted here probably because she trusted Haya and Haya herself fell for the lies. The Sheikh used Robinsons name and reputation to give cover to his dirty work as to what is really going on with Latifa and Robinson is the one left with egg all over her face.

    Notwithstanding all that the question now is why doesnt Robinson come out publically and honestly and say she got used and duped by the Sheikh and has concerns for Latifas welfare in light of evidence of torture given at the civil trial in London. Surely that is what someone who claims to defend human rights would do? There is a very high chance that Latifa is being tortured right now just as she was for 3.5 years in prison in 2002 after she got caught trying to escape to Oman. The right thing for Robinson to do now is to publically call on the Sheikh the put Latifa on a plane to London to prove that 1) She is not being tortured and 2) that she is not being held against her own will.

    Im beginning to wonder why Robinson is remaining silent on this. A human rights lawyer who is directly connected to someone who is likely being tortured and she says nothing? You begin to wonder has the Sheikh been donating large sums of money to the Mary Robinson Foundation?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 667 ✭✭✭Balf


    Muahahaha wrote: »
    AFAIK at the time Haya genuinely believed the line been spun to her by the Sheikh that Latifa was troubled and had mental health problems.
    Perhaps. I can't help noticing that Haya does not appear in any of the photos. So the enduring image is of Mary Robinson with a big smile plastered on her face, while Latifa looks like she's on elephant tranquilizers.


    And I don't think the explanation is "sure, Haya had to take the photographs".
    Muahahaha wrote: »
    It was only after that family lunch that Haya visited Latifa and she said she collapsed in her arms crying and gave her the full story of her kidnapping and abduction by the Indian commandos working on behalf of the UAE government.
    Was it? Or was it on the day the BBC broadcast their programme - a week before Robbo visited?
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/05/kidnapping-case-what-happened-to-sheikh-mohammeds-daughters


    Describing a visit to see Latifa on 6 December 2018, Haya told the court: “She opened the door, looked at me, embraced me, and burst into tears. She cried for a long time. She looked vulnerable. She had no makeup on and she had pale skin.”
    I'm not sure what exactly Haya's role and motivation are.Who knew what and when? I don't think we know, yet.
    Muahahaha wrote: »
    Im beginning to wonder why Robinson is remaining silent on this. A human rights lawyer who is directly connected to someone who is likely being tortured and she says nothing?
    Absolutely, she needs to speak and explain her role.


    She'd no problem saying Latifa was mad, in public. So what's the problem either confirming her initial "assessment", or admitting it wasn't correct.


  • Registered Users Posts: 11,739 ✭✭✭✭expectationlost


    Muahahaha wrote: »
    Yeah I think there is two main issues. One is that Mary Robinson is not a psychiatrist so her making pronouncements on Latifas medical state is of no use whatsoever and I dont know what the UN were thinking in accepting that report back to them. Its one thing for Robinson to go out there and check for 'proof of life' and an entirely different thing to be making assessments that everything is grand, she just needs medical help which she is getting, nothing to see here, etc

    The second seems to be how Robinson got tricked/deceived into this family lunch in Dubai. AFAIK at the time Haya genuinely believed the line been spun to her by the Sheikh that Latifa was troubled and had mental health problems. Haya set up the family lunch with Robinson on this basis to show the world that Latifa was fine and just needed medical attention, which was exactly the line the Sheikh wanted to spin to the UN and the media.

    It was only after that family lunch that Haya visited Latifa and she said she collapsed in her arms crying and gave her the full story of her kidnapping and abduction by the Indian commandos working on behalf of the UAE government. During this abduction on the yacht in the Indian ocean Latifa pleaded with the Indian soldiers to shoot her now as she didnt want to go back to the UAE alive. It seems that Haya got more and more concerned about Latifa and tried to mediate with the Sheikh but he got angry and ordered her to keep her nose out of his business and to no longer contact Latifa. Sometime thereafter Haya did her own runner to London where she remains now.

    I think it is likely that Robinson got royally shafted here probably because she trusted Haya and Haya herself fell for the lies. The Sheikh used Robinsons name and reputation to give cover to his dirty work as to what is really going on with Latifa and Robinson is the one left with egg all over her face.

    Notwithstanding all that the question now is why doesnt Robinson come out publically and honestly and say she got used and duped by the Sheikh and has concerns for Latifas welfare in light of evidence of torture given at the civil trial in London. Surely that is what someone who claims to defend human rights would do? There is a very high chance that Latifa is being tortured right now just as she was for 3.5 years in prison in 2002 after she got caught trying to escape to Oman. The right thing for Robinson to do now is to publically call on the Sheikh the put Latifa on a plane to London to prove that 1) She is not being tortured and 2) that she is not being held against her own will.

    Im beginning to wonder why Robinson is remaining silent on this. A human rights lawyer who is directly connected to someone who is likely being tortured and she says nothing? You begin to wonder has the Sheikh been donating large sums of money to the Mary Robinson Foundation?




    Wow Haya had no notion that what was alleged could be true? had she never heard about what happened to her older sister?



    ...had Haya not watched the video?


  • Registered Users Posts: 19,587 ✭✭✭✭Muahahaha


    Seems this story rumbles on in what will be a very messy divorce between Princess Haya and Sheik Mohammed. Last summer the Sheikh took five of Hayas racehorses and moved them to his Godolphin stud in the UK. About a week later the horses were returned, presumably after threats of police/legal action.

    But now it looks like the Sheikh has gone and taken another one of her horses and won a race with it with Frankie Dettori on board
    Racing’s powerful figures responded with silence on Sunday when questions were asked about how a valuable racehorse was transferred recently from the ownership of Princess Haya to that of Godolphin, the racing vehicle of her former husband, Sheikh Mohammed, from whom she fled last year seeking protection from the English courts.

    Terebellum is a valuable breeding prospect and expected to try her luck next in a Group One race after proving her class by winning the Dahlia Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday, when her jockey, Frankie Dettori, wore the royal blue of Godolphin.

    That was a change from last year, when Terebellum carried Princess Haya’s green and black silks, including when successful in a quality race at Deauville. But when the entries for the Newmarket race were published last week, Terebellum was listed as owned by Godolphin.

    Asked to explain that, Godolphin’s managing director, Hugh Anderson, replied: “No comment”. More surprisingly, the British Horseracing Authority, which regulates the sport, remained wary. Asked if it had checked with Princess Haya that she consented to the transfer, a spokesman responded: “It is the BHA’s position currently not to comment on this.” He declined to explain why.
    https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2020/jun/08/talking-horses-racings-rulers-silent-over-switch-of-princess-haya-horse-racing


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,445 ✭✭✭Rodney Bathgate


    Maybe Mary can put her negotiations skills to work to help them reach an amicable agreement.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 577 ✭✭✭VillageIdiot71


    She was "horribly tricked" into publicly casting doubt on Latifa's sanity, or something.

    https://twitter.com/BBCWorld/status/1361667305739063296


  • Registered Users Posts: 20,905 ✭✭✭✭Ash.J.Williams


    That’s insane, she told the world the girl was nuts and needed help and put her life in danger


  • Registered Users Posts: 19,587 ✭✭✭✭Muahahaha


    Good to have it finally confirmed that she was tricked. But thats beside the point and why is she only coming out with it now more than a year after the event? It has to be assumed that Latifa either is being tortured (as she was in 2002) or is in severe danger of it if she acts up in anyway. Robinson had a moral duty to speak up about that at the time but she chose not to, her words are a bit empty now a long time after she knew what was happening.

    She also says she was only in the photographs for 'proof of life' to the UN but thats not the full story. She also made a pronouncement on Latifa having mental health difficulties and that she was receiving medical treatment. She fell for the Sheikhs spin hook, line and sinker.

    In that photograph Robinson is actually sitting beside a victim of kidnapping and torture. And her a human rights lawyer giving legitmacy to the very person responsible for ordering the kidnapping and torture. This is a huge stain on Robinsons judgement and reputation.


  • Registered Users Posts: 20,905 ✭✭✭✭Ash.J.Williams


    Deeply troubled young woman or something


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,636 ✭✭✭feargale


    She was "horribly tricked" into publicly casting doubt on Latifa's sanity, or something.

    That being so, I suppose she could be equally "horribly tricked" if she met a prisoner in North Korea. If you didn't know that UAE is a vicious dictatorship which allows virtually zero human rights to its citizens and less to its oppressed immigrant workers your reading must be confined to VIP, Horse & Hound and Ireland's Own. When you lie down with dogs you will get up with fleas. But royal baubles can be dazzling.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 19,587 ✭✭✭✭Muahahaha


    It seems the reason she came out with that media appearance today admitting that she was tricked is because BBC Panorama are showing an investigation on Princess Latifa tonight and it contains footage that makes clear Robinson was completely blindsided anyway. So she is not admitting this off her own bat, instead she is doing damage control on her own sullied reputation before the documentary airs later on tonight.

    In it somehow Latifa got hold of a mobile phone and sent videos of herself in captivity to friends who shared it with the BBC. The doc will also say that there are 30 police guarding the villa she is in 24/7 and she isnt even allowed to have a toothbrush, no doubt on orders from the Sheikh himself.

    Robinson owes Latifa a public apology because she got duped into sitting beside a victim of kidnapping and as a result we are only hearing the real story of what is happening to Latifa tonight, more than a year after Robinson pronounced that she is a troubled girl who is safe with a family that loves her.


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,636 ✭✭✭feargale


    Muahahaha wrote: »
    It seems the reason she came out with that media appearance today admitting that she was tricked is because BBC Panorama are showing an investigation on Princess Latifa tonight and it contains footage that makes clear Robinson was completely blindsided anyway. So she is not admitting this off her own bat, instead she is doing damage control on her own sullied reputation before the documentary airs later on tonight.

    In it somehow Latifa got hold of a mobile phone and sent videos of herself in captivity to friends who shared it with the BBC. The doc will also say that there are 30 police guarding the villa she is in 24/7 and she isnt even allowed to have a toothbrush, no doubt on orders from the Sheikh himself.

    Robinson owes Latifa a public apology because she got duped into sitting beside a victim of kidnapping and as a result we are only hearing the real story of what is happening to Latifa tonight, more than a year after Robinson pronounced that she is a troubled girl who is safe with a family that loves her.

    What time is BBC programme tonight? Thanks.


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,112 ✭✭✭Quantum Erasure


    feargale wrote: »
    What time is BBC programme tonight? Thanks.

    8:30, BBC One


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,636 ✭✭✭feargale


    8:30, BBC One

    Thanks. I saw it. Very disturbing but no surprise. Our betters, queens, popes, presidents, human rights commissioners etc need to be more careful about who they hobnob
    with. They should know better than to be distracted by foreign trips, fast horses and cordon bleu meals.


  • Registered Users Posts: 384 ✭✭vapor trails


    feargale wrote: »
    Thanks. I saw it. Very disturbing but no surprise. Our betters, queens, popes, presidents, human rights commissioners etc need to be more careful about who they hob nob with. They should know better than to be distracted by foreign trips, fast horses and cordon bleu meals.

    Sheik Mohammed would have fairly large operations here in Ireland. Kildangan Stud is one of about 6 in this country. He has horses in training with Willie McCreery and Jim Bolger I think. Horse racing is a government-funded sport in this country with it due to receive around €90m directly from Government coffers in 2021.


  • Registered Users Posts: 9,798 ✭✭✭take everything


    Fair play to the useful idiot Mary Robinson.
    This girl is now effectively a prisoner.

    I love how our heroine throws whoever she can under a bus, saying she was mislead by Princess Haya.

    Serious dummy.


  • Registered Users Posts: 18,069 ✭✭✭✭fryup


    Muahahaha wrote: »
    It has to be assumed that Latifa either is being tortured (as she was in 2002) or is in severe danger of it if she acts up in anyway.

    i don't think they would torture her now, she's probably drugged out of her mind

    Robinson was duped no doubt, i would have thought Latifa would have slipped her a secret message on a piece of paper..GET ME OUT OF HERE


  • Registered Users Posts: 14,077 ✭✭✭✭elperello


    A very intelligent woman like Mrs Robinson is not so easily fooled.

    I feel there is more behind this.

    It's sad really because she did a lot of good in the past and now her reputation is on the line.

    Of course the real victim is the young woman and the old woman's story is only peripheral.


  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 11,291 Mod ✭✭✭✭Hermy


    I thought the bit where Robinson said she wouldn't know how to talk to a bipolar person was bizarre.

    Surely a person in her position wouldn't have any such qualms given the broad range of people she would have met with down through the years.

    Genealogy Forum Mod



  • Registered Users Posts: 19,587 ✭✭✭✭Muahahaha


    Sheik Mohammed would have fairly large operations here in Ireland. Kildangan Stud is one of about 6 in this country. He has horses in training with Willie McCreery and Jim Bolger I think. Horse racing is a government-funded sport in this country with it due to receive around €90m directly from Government coffers in 2021.

    Yeah and across Sheikh Mohammeds various studs in Ireland he has hundreds of people employed here. I wonder how all those employees feel knowing their employer is basically someone who doesnt think twice about ordering kidnapping and torture? I know they're there for the love of horses and racing but jesus I wouldnt feel comfortable to being in the pay of someone like that, you'd really have to adopt a hear no evil, see no evil approach.

    I havent seen the doc yet, can anyone give some detail on what Latifa said in the video she got out to her friends and the media. Was thinking she must of memorised the phone number of her friend to do it.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 68,317 ✭✭✭✭seamus


    elperello wrote: »
    A very intelligent woman like Mrs Robinson is not so easily fooled.
    I think it is what it says on the tin.

    She went at the invite of someone she believed to be a good and honourable friend, and took them at their word about their daughter being mentally unwell, and reported that.

    Same as most of us would if in the same situation. Her time as a head of state and human rights commissioner probably betrayed her in this instance; she wouldn't have been used to "peaceful" heads of state engaging in dirty tricks, so she took what they said at face value.


  • Registered Users Posts: 19,587 ✭✭✭✭Muahahaha


    seamus wrote: »
    I think it is what it says on the tin.

    She went at the invite of someone she believed to be a good and honourable friend, and took them at their word about their daughter being mentally unwell, and reported that.

    Same as most of us would if in the same situation. Her time as a head of state and human rights commissioner probably betrayed her in this instance; she wouldn't have been used to "peaceful" heads of state engaging in dirty tricks, so she took what they said at face value.

    Yeah but heres the thing. From 1997 to 2002 Robinson was the UN Commissioner for Human Rights. Part of her job then was to know about all things kidnapping and torture, be that journalists working in despotic regimes who got locked up in show trials or Princesses being kidnapped.

    In 2000 another one of Sheikh Mohammeds 26 children Princess Shamsa got kidnapped off the streets of Cambridge, she was put on a helicopter and then a plane back to Dubai She hasnt been seen since and theres a pretty high likelihood he had her killed. Robinson simply must of known of this kidnap as it was her job to know and to speak out about it. If she didnt know about it through the UN all she had to do was read about it in the Guardian who wrote an article on it back in 2001.

    Then in 2002 Princess Latifa tries to escape the Sheikh by crossing the border into Oman. She too gets kidnapped and brought back across the border where the Sheikh has her thrown into prison for three and half years in solitary confinement and where she was tortured. Again Robinson in her position should have known that the Sheikh once again had kidnapped one of his daughters who was trying to escape. Robinson didnt speak up about this either.

    Had Robinson spoken up about those two kidnappings while she was UN Commissioner for Human Rights then she would never have found herself in the position she is in now 20 years later with egg all over her face. But she didnt, instead she seemed to prefer some kind of loyalty to her friend Princess Haya and kept her mouth shut because she didnt want to insult the Sheikh, a guy who literally ordered kidnap and torture. I would now see Robinsons silence on the two kidnappings in 2000 and 2002 as a complete dereliction of duty in her position as UN Commissioner of Human Rights.

    Whats worse is now just today the office of the current UN Commissioner on Human Rights are saying they are going to question the UAE about Latifas imprisonment. The UN Working Group on Arbiraty Detention are saying they're going to open an investigation
    We are hoping [a UN investigation] will be decisive in finally getting Princess Latifa released," Rodney Dixon, a lawyer who presented the case to the UN, told the BBC.

    "The UN needs to have a very serious meeting directly with those who are holding [her] and make sure an agreement is reached so she can be released," he said.

    So they're doing something now almost 20 years later but under Robinsons tenure at the UN she did nothing. As a result of that if Shamsa is still alive it means she has now been locked up for 21 years, likely in solitary confinement. Latifa has been locked up since 2002, aside from her second failed escape attempt in 2018 during which UAE commandoes kidnapped her again off a yacht in the Indian Ocean.

    Growing up I always has a lot of respect for Mary Robinson. She was a trail blazer in her day and her election as Irelands first female President was symbolic of a changing Ireland that was moving away from decades of being ruled by Catholic Church dogma and towards a more liberal society. But this episode for me has left her reputation completely in the toilet. Shes a human rights lawyer who choose not to speak up about human rights. Any criticism she gets from here on is entirely justified, she created this mess for herself by not doing her job in the first place. And as a consequence of that two women have spent decades locked up. Only now 20 years later do they have any hope.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 40,061 ✭✭✭✭Harry Palmr


    This Panorama is repeated again tonight on BBC 2 - at about midnight I think


  • Registered Users Posts: 19,587 ✭✭✭✭Muahahaha


    The story moves on. Now Latifa has managed to get a letter smuggled out asking the UK police to re-investigate the kidnapping of her sister Princess Shamsa off the streets of Cambridge in 2000. At the time the police had an investigation open but it was reported it went nowhere because the Foreign Office told them to put a lid on it.
    Princess Latifa, the captive daughter of Dubai's ruler, has appealed to UK police to re-investigate the kidnap of her older sister from a Cambridge street more than 20 years ago.

    In a letter shared with the BBC, Latifa tells Cambridgeshire police this could help free Princess Shamsa, who was captured on the orders of their father. Shamsa, who was just 18 then and is now 39, has not been seen in public since. The government of Dubai has not responded to BBC requests for comment.

    A High Court judge ruled in 2019, that Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum had abducted both daughters and held them against their will. Last week BBC Panorama broadcast shocking videos Latifa had secretly recorded on a phone she had been given, in which she described how she was being held "hostage" by her father following a failed escape attempt in 2018. The UN has since asked the United Arab Emirates for proof that Latifa is alive.
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-56188745

    Latifa also alleges that Shamsa was tortured in captivity, they caned her feet according to her account.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,189 ✭✭✭Gekko


    I know two people who had dealings with Mary R a few months prior to the first report about this

    Both said she was quite haughty and didn’t seem to be very mentally sharp. One suggested might be a sign of early Alzheimer’s, having seen similar in one of their parents


  • Registered Users Posts: 20,905 ✭✭✭✭Ash.J.Williams


    elperello wrote: »
    A very intelligent woman like Mrs Robinson is not so easily fooled.

    I feel there is more behind this.

    It's sad really because she did a lot of good in the past and now her reputation is on the line.

    Of course the real victim is the young woman and the old woman's story is only peripheral.

    Depends on how you measure intelligence


  • Registered Users Posts: 14,077 ✭✭✭✭elperello


    Depends on how you measure intelligence

    Not sure what your point is.

    Are you referring to a lack of emotional intelligence?

    She will be on the LLS tonight trying to explain things. Should be worth a watch.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,875 ✭✭✭Edgware


    elperello wrote: »
    Not sure what your point is.

    Are you referring to a lack of emotional intelligence?

    She will be on the LLS tonight trying to explain things. Should be worth a watch.

    Being interviewed by Mr Establishment she should be safe enough and wont be asked too many awkward questions.


  • Registered Users Posts: 14,077 ✭✭✭✭elperello


    Edgware wrote: »
    Being interviewed by Mr Establishment she should be safe enough and wont be asked too many awkward questions.

    Maybe safe for tonight but it will take more than a soft interview to extricate her from this sad story.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 8,112 ✭✭✭Quantum Erasure


    Muahahaha wrote: »
    The story moves on. Now Latifa has managed to get a letter smuggled out asking the UK police to re-investigate the kidnapping of her sister Princess Shamsa off the streets of Cambridge in 2000. At the time the police had an investigation open but it was reported it went nowhere because the Foreign Office told them to put a lid on it.


    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-56188745
    Latifa's handwritten letter, which was passed to the Cambridgeshire force by her friends on Wednesday, urges action for her sister by British authorities. It was written in 2019 while she was being held in solitary confinement in a "jail villa".
    So the letter was written in 2019, has there been any word from her since?


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