Lisa Bloom calls for Dubai ruler’s horse to be banned from the Kentucky Derby in protest over his ‘captive’ daughter Princess Latifa


  • Bloom wants to ban Sheikh Mohammed’s horse, Royal Marine, from the Derby 
  • She has accused him of holding his 33-year-old daughter against her will 
  • Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum tried to flee Dubai in 2018
  • She was stopped on board a yacht off the coast of India and was taken home
  • In a video she recorded beforehand, she told of how she wanted to escape
  • Dubai has denied that she is mistreated but she has not been seen in public
  • The only photos of her that have emerged were at a meeting with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson 
  • The family invited Robinson, the former President of Ireland, to prove that Latifa was safe and happy 

JENNIFER SMITH FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
April 15 2019, Daily Mail Online

Lisa Bloom has called for Dubai’s ruler and his horse to be excluded from the Kentucky Derby this year in protest over him allegedly holding his adult daughter captive. 

Bloom announced on Monday that she had filed a complaint demanding that Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum not be allowed to enter his horse Royal Marine in this year’s race. 

In 2018, his 33-year-old daughter, Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, tried to escape Dubai on a boat but was captured days later and has been being held, allegedly against her will, in the UAE ever since. 

She has not been seen publicly since the incident but her family has released photographs of her which they say prove she is living happily and healthily. 

Lisa Bloom announced on Monday that she had filed a complaint demanding that Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum (right) and his horse be excluded from the Kentucky Derby

Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, 33, has not been seen publicly since trying to escape Dubai last March and being brought back to her family

Bloom maintains that she is being held against her will. 

On Monday, she said the US should exclude Sheik Mohammed in protest and as a sign that it cares about women’s rights. 

‘For over a year, the monarch of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, has brazenly and openly held hostage his adult daughter, Princess Latifa, whose only “crime” was her attempt to escape him and live life on her own terms,’  Bloom said in a press release.

‘It is time to end business as usual in the United States for Sheikh Mohammed. He operates horseracing farms in Kentucky, called Godolphin. He has had ten horses race in the Kentucky Derby, and his horse Royal Marine may run in this year’s May 4 race. He also has a filly slated to run in the Oaks on May 3.

‘It is time to ban Sheikh Mohammed, everyone associated with him, and Royal Marine from the Derby, the

‘Oaks and all horse-racing events in Kentucky. 

Bloom says there is a chance that the Sheikh’s horse, Royal Marine, may compete in this year’s Kentucky Derby but that it should not be allowed to

‘Surely as a country that believes in women’s rights and the sovereignty of the American flag that is the very least we can do,’ she said.  

She filed her complaint against him and against the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. 

In March 2018, Latifa recorded a nearly 40 minute-long video where she explained why she wanted to escape. 

She said that in Dubai, women’s lives were ‘disposable’. She also claimed that she spent years as a teenager being tortured and held in solitary confinement after a failed escape attempt. 

The video surfaced after she was recaptured last year and was released by a friend who had tried to help her get out. 

The pair were found on-board a boat off the coast of India with French former spy Hervé Jaubert.

These photographs show Latifa with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, in December in proof of her life. There were allegations she had been killed
Many, including Bloom, say the photographs do not prove that Princess Latifa is not being held against her will
Latifa’s Instagram page has now been shut down and she has not spoken publicly

When they were stopped by Emirati and Indian forces on the boat, Latifa reportedly said she would rather have been killed than go back to live with her strict family.

A documentary was made about the rescue attempt in which both the friend who tried to escape with her and Jaubert were interviewed.

Latifa’s family in Dubai slammed it as ‘regrettable’ and said that she was put in a position of vulnerability by the pair.

Last year, they invited UN High Commissioner of Human Rights Mary Robinson to their home to prove that she was safe.

Robinson later gave an interview describing Latifa as ‘troubled’. 

She was criticized for seeming to repeat the family’s version of events without challenging it. 

After she was taken back to her family, Latifa’s social media accounts were shut down.