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19 Feb, 7 tweets, 3 min read
New videos purporting to showing Dubai's Princess Latifa accusing her father, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, of holding her "hostage" shine a light on United Arab Emirates' rights record #NBCNewsThreads nbcnews.com/news/world/pri… (1/7)
“I don’t want to be a hostage in this jail villa, I just want to be free,” Princess Latifa says in a video, one of several released by the BBC appearing to show her in a barricaded home in Dubai.

@NBCNews has not independently obtained or verified the videos. (2/7)
Princess Latifa was caught trying to flee Dubai in 2018.

The escape attempt saw her drive to Oman, before boarding a yacht bound for India. She then planned to fly to the US and seek asylum.

But after a week, the vessel was intercepted and Latifa was returned to Dubai. (3/7)
UAE officials have previously said Princess Latifa's case was a family affair and that she had not been detained.

Neither Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum nor authorities in the UAE have responded to the newly released videos. (4/7) nbcnews.com/news/world/pri…
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is widely welcomed in Western countries and has even been pictured alongside the UK's Queen Elizabeth.

Last year, Ivanka Trump was among the high-profile women to speak at a Global Women’s Forum in Dubai that was attended by Mohammed. (5/7)
UAE detains those who criticize authorities and hundreds of activists and academics are serving lengthy sentences, Human Rights Watch says.

Emirati laws also discriminate against women, migrants and LGBTQ individuals, the organization adds. (6/7) nbcnews.com/news/world/pri…
Rights campaigners hope the new videos will renew pressure on the UAE to release Princess Latifa, and also highlight wider abuses in the kingdom more often associated with sunny vacations and big business.

“There’s absolutely no freedom of expression," a researcher says. (7/7)

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More from @NBCNews

NBC News Profile picture
19 Feb
TEXAS LATEST:

• 192,000+ still without power

• 13,000,000 under boil water orders

• At least 43 people from 10 different states have died because of weather-related fatalities since Thursday, the majority in Texas

nbcnews.to/3ptWzS0
Firefighters near San Antonio had to truck in water Thursday to battle a blaze that devastated an apartment building because hydrants were frozen, a fire chief says.

No one was injured in the fire.

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Demonstrators stand in front of Sen. Cruz's home Thursday in Houston.

Cruz says his decision to go to Cancún as Texans suffer without heat, water and power was "a mistake" that he now regrets.

nbcnews.to/3azN4MV

📷 Marie D. De Jesús / Houston Chronicle / AP
Read 18 tweets
NBC News Profile picture
19 Feb
The Nazis seized an estimated 20% of art in Europe, and with scores of items still not returned to the families that owned them, Germany is struggling to keep up with the demands of its past. #NBCNewsThreads (1/8) nbcnews.to/3qBI3sF
Experts fear a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling could prove a bitter blow not only to those art heirs, but also to hundreds of Jewish families seeking restitution from Germany as it struggles to atone for its past. (2/8) nbcnews.com/news/world/med…
Historical consensus is clear that Jewish persecution took place in Nazi Germany, but heirs of Jewish art dealers are struggling to prove that their treasures were forcibly sold, leading to collections being sold for a fraction of what heirs say their value is. (3/8)
Read 8 tweets
NBC News Profile picture
18 Feb
Sen. Cruz is facing backlash after photos went viral that purportedly show him and his family traveling to Cancún, Mexico, as his state’s residents suffer without heat, water and power because of the state’s historic winter storm.

nbcnews.to/2ZrHber
The Houston Police Department tells @NBCNews that Cruz’s staff contacted them on Wednesday afternoon to assist him in his arrival and movements through Houston's international airport.
New statement by Sen. Cruz:
Read 6 tweets
NBC News Profile picture
18 Feb
TEXAS LATEST:

• 537,000+ still without power

• 264,000 in areas where water systems are completely non-operational

• At least 37 people have died because of weather-related fatalities since Thursday, the majority in Texas

nbcnews.to/3ayAAFn
People wait in line to fill propane tanks Wednesday in Houston.

Customers waited over an hour in freezing rain.

Millions in Texas still had no power after a historic snowfall and single-digit temperatures created a surge of demand for electricity.

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Woman rests inside a Gallery Furniture store that opened as a shelter Wednesday in Houston after millions lost power due to historic low temperatures across Texas.

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NBC News Profile picture
16 Feb
A Black ballerina at one of Europe's premier ballet companies has called out racism in the elite dance world.

"Our skin color should not be a criteria, only talent should matter." #NBCNewsThreads (1/5) nbcnews.to/3jSuVNe
29-year-old French national Chloé Lopes Gomes says she was mocked for her skin color, leaving her feeling unsupported and humiliated.

"The harassment kept going, I was very depressed,” she says, adding the way she was treated led to her being prescribed antidepressants. (2/5)
During some 'Swan Lake’ performances she was made to wear white makeup, despite the school formally dropping this requirement.

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Read 5 tweets
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14 Feb
When police in northern Mexico allegedly shot 19 people, including at least 14 Guatemalan migrants, to death in late Jan. near the Texas border, it was a tragedy that critics say authorities had been warned could come. (1/5) - @NBCLatino #NBCNewsThreads nbcnews.to/3ak8rBL
@NBCLatino A dozen officers of the 150-member Special Operations Group, known by its Spanish initials as GOPES, have now been ordered to be held for trial in the alleged slayings. (2/5)
But critics say authorities had ample warning of the problems in the unit. In November, a Tamaulipas business association charged that GOPES officers broke into and robbed a member’s home. The complaint was ignored, and nothing was ever done to rein the unit in. (3/5)
Read 5 tweets

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