The New Yorker:

A four-episode narrative series, from In the Dark, examines why the daughters of the emirate’s ruler have risked their lives to run away. Subscribers get early, ad-free access.

The leader of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, is one of the richest men in the world and has been celebrated for modernizing the United Arab Emirates. Publicly, he advocates for gender equality and has pledged to “remove all the hurdles that women face.” But, for his daughter Latifa, Dubai was a “prison,” an opulent cage where she and other royal women were subjected to harsh punishment for disobedience.

Over several years, Latifa devised a secret plan to flee the country by sea, training in extreme sports and smuggling cash to co-conspirators. But in February, 2018, as Latifa attempted the escape, commandos stormed the yacht that she had chartered to take her to international waters, and carried Latifa away. The princess has called her father a “major criminal” who is responsible for torturing women who have sought to evade his control. (Sheikh Mohammed has denied any wrongdoing.)

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