United States President Joe Biden is being called upon by the supporters of the daughter of an Emirati ruler, Princess Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum, who claims she was held captive for nearly three years, to pressure her father for her release. The BBC released clips on Tuesday, which Princess Sheikha claimed were recorded in the bathroom of a Dubai villa where she was being held, grabbing headlines worldwide. 

Friends of the 35-year-old princess, detained off the coast of India in March 2018 after she attempted to flee the country in a yacht, have expressed concerns for her safety saying she stopped responding to messages six months ago, AP reported.

Sheikha Latifa is the daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai as well as the prime minister and vice president of the United Arab Emirates. 

The princess’ supporters are also encouraged by the release of Loujain al-Hathloul, the women’s rights activist held for over three years, by Saudi Arabia, Dubai-based human rights advocate and a Shiekha Latifa supporter David Haigh said. 

Her release came after the Biden administration, which has underscored human rights as part of its foreign policy, halted some arms sales to the nation. 

“The only level of people that are going to have enough influence to effectively force Latifa’s father to open her jail are people like Joe Biden, and there’s very few of them. And he’s also shown that he can do it with Saudi,” Haigh told the AP. 

Tiina Jauhiainen, the former personal trainer for Sheikha Latifa, told the AP that a friend recorded the princess’ video on a phone which was smuggled to her around a year into her detention. 

The princess, in the video, claims she is “worried about her safety” and her life.

“They want propaganda from me. They wanted me to do a video and say that I’m here happily and voluntarily. And I refused,” she said in a video. “I don’t know what can happen to me and how long this will last. And if they decide to release me, like how my life would be. But I’m not safe at all.”

Also Read | Family of Saudi activist Loujain al-Hathloul credits Biden for her release

Jauhiainen said Sheikha Latifa’s supporters were scared for her life and thus released the video to the public. “We’re extremely worried that she was caught with the phone and possibly she has ended up in a worse situation than she was before. So we’re hoping that with this evidence, we will secure her freedom, finally,” she said. 

On Wednesday, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said it will “raise these new developments with the UAE”. 

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab also backed a UN investigation into the matter, calling the videos “very distressing”. He said that while the UK government was “concerned” there was little they could do since Latifa is not a British national. 

Meanwhile, Sheikh Mohammed and Dubai’s royal court have said that Latifa is safe and in the care of her family.