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.)

In “The Runaway Princesses,” a four-part narrative audio series, the New Yorker staff writer Heidi Blake tells the story of Latifa and other royal women who have defied one of the world’s most powerful men. Why did these women, born into unbelievable luxury, risk their lives to flee? And what has happened to them since? Drawing on thousands of pages of secret correspondence and never-before-heard recordings, “The Runaway Princesses”—The New Yorker’s first narrative-audio release—takes listeners from the palaces of Dubai to the streets of London in a tale of startling courage and cruelty.

Go to link