1UA TV

The arrival of U.S. President Joe Biden in the White House has ushered in hopes for a new approach towards one of the thorniest foreign policy questions – how to restore democracy in Venezuela. As the U.S seeks to rebuild ties with European allies that became distanced during the presidency of Donald Trump, analysts say Venezuela will be one of many tests of this new relationship.In Madrid, the left-wing government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has cheered Biden and what it hopes will be his fresh approach to relations with a region that both nations consider their backyard. Because of its historical ties to Latin America, Spain has been at the forefront of European efforts to negotiate with the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in order to push for democratic change. During the Trump era, talk in Washington of using military clashed with the EU strategy of seeking to force change through sanctions while maintaining a peaceful dialogue with both the Maduro government and opposition groups. FILE – Venezuelan opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez embraces a person after participating in a popular consultation launched by opposition leader Juan Guaido to decline Venezuela’s Dec. 6 parliamentary election, in Bogota, Colombia Dec. 12, 2020.White House press secretary Jen Psaki recently laid out the new U.S. government’s approach to the political crisis in Venezuela.The Biden administration “will focus on addressing the humanitarian situation, providing support to Venezuelan people and reinvigorating multilateral diplomacy to press for a democratic outcome and pursue individuals involved in corruption, human rights abuses,” she said.Worsening political situationIn Venezuela, meanwhile, the political situation worsened at the end of 2020 after legislative elections in December were criticized by the opposition and the EU as lacking legitimacy. Venezuela is mired in a deep institutional crisis. The Maduro government exercises power without international credibility but faces a divided opposition which has no clear road map for how to wrestle control of the nation. The economic situation for 30 million Venezuelans is even more volatile, with many barely able to cover basic needs such as food, health and access to public services. The International Monetary Fund expects inflation to rise by 6,500% this year. Despite the growing convergence on policy, Washington and its European allies disagree on how to deal with the Venezuelan opposition. Unlike the U.S., Brussels has refused to recognize Juan Guiadó as the de-facto president of Venezuela. Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya said this week the EU supported the Venezuelan opposition movement and called for a “humanitarian response” as well as a “dialogue between all political forces and social actors” within the country. However, she said that the opposition movement must seek more “unity and strength.”  In a signal that Madrid aligns itself with Biden’s foreign policy, Gonzalez Laya added: “I listened carefully to the statements of the U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, where he clearly explained that the strategy followed in recent years had not worked and that it and that it was necessary to work with all U.S. allies to promote a change in Venezuela and that is where Spain will be of course.” FILE – Secretary of State Antony Blinken.The decision not to recognize Guaidó as interim president angered some elements of the Venezuelan opposition. Isadora Zubillaga, deputy foreign minister in Guaido’s interim government, described the EU’s position as “muddled” in a Politico article. Sanctions may become aligned  Analysts said that while Biden has indicated he wants to pursue a peaceful resolution of the Venezuelan situation, he remains committed to sanctions. Carlos Malamud, an analyst who specializes in Latin America at the Real Elcano Institute, a Madrid think tank, believes the U.S. sanctions policy towards Venezuela will change. “I think they may become more aligned towards the European Union which maintains committed to collective sanctions,” he told VOA in an interview.The sanctions blacklist on Venezuela may be expanded, the EU said recently, warning Maduro against further crackdowns on the opposition. Brussels placed an arms embargo on Venezuela, froze certain assets and imposed a travel ban on 36 people aligned to the Maduro government. Geoff Ramsey, director for Venezuela at WOLA: Advocacy for Human Rights in the Americas, expects Biden to use a “carrot and the stick” strategy with Maduro’s government. “Moving forward, it’s very likely we’ll see a clearer emphasis on negotiations leading to free and fair elections,” he told VOA. “None of this means Biden will let up the pressure. The president has been quite clear that he sees sanctions as a valid tool for free, fair and credible elections in Venezuela and is not going to lift U.S. sanctions with nothing in exchange.”
…

Two years ago, French President Emmanuel Macron announced a fact-finding commission of historians to shed full light on a less glorious past: notably France’s role in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.  
 
Now, with the Duclert Commission expected to present its conclusions in a matter of weeks, new findings suggest the country did more than commit “errors” nearly three decades ago, as one former French leader once said.  
 
Extracts from French Foreign Ministry cables at that time, recently published by investigative website Mediapart and Agence France-Presse, appear to show Paris was aware genocide suspects were hiding in a French-army-controlled “safe-zone” in Rwanda following the slaughter—and did nothing to arrest them. Instead, the ministry instructed its envoy to Rwanda, Yannick Gerard, to request their departure from the area.  
 
The allegations have sparked sharp debate, even outrage, in recent days. But they are simply the latest to trickle out from interviews and archives from former President Francois Mitterrand’s government at the time—documents that nonetheless remain largely inaccessible except to a handful of scholars. Together, they add pressure on the Duclert Commission for a comprehensive and transparent accounting of France’s role across the horrific arc of the genocide that killed more than 800,000 people.  
 
“For us, it’s an extra element that confirms what we’ve denounced for years,” said Thomas Borrel, a spokesman for Survie (Survival), a victims’ rights association that won access to the Mitterrand archives last year. “We hope this new discovery will prevent any kind of conclusion in the [Duclert] report that seeks to legitimize French action at the time.” 
Macron, for his part, has promised an honest accounting by the commission—whose report is due in early April.
 
“We owe it to ourselves to look at our past in its entirety, without any desire to conceal or self-flagellate,” he said in a November interview with The Africa Report.
 
Like his recent predecessors, Macron has sought to mend long-fraught ties with Kigali over Paris’ role in the mass slaughter, inviting his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame to visit the French capital in 2018.FILE – Names of victims of one of many Rwanda genocide massacres are seen on panels at the Bisesero Genocide Memorial in Bisesero, western Rwanda, Dec. 2, 2020.France also championed the successful but controversial nomination of Rwanda’s Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo to head the Paris-based International Organization of la Francophonie, although Kigali has long pivoted toward English and Mushikiwabo’s mastery of French reportedly was shaky.  
 
“What we fear is closer diplomatic ties between Paris and Kigali to the detriment of the truth,” said Borrel of the Survie group, about his fears the Duclert Commission report will whitewash its findings.
 
Borrel points to the departure of one commission member late last year, after her allegedly favorable take on France’s military role during the genocide was reported in the press.
 
The French Foreign Ministry cables offer a different take on events.
 
They were disclosed by another Survie member, researcher Francois Graner, who was granted access to the Mitterrand archives. The instructions from Paris were signed by Bernard Emie, a former diplomatic adviser who now heads France’s DGSE secret service.  
 
They are part of a raft of allegations trickling out over the years of what France knew—and what it did—not only during, but also before and after the genocide. Others include reports the country delivered weapons to Rwanda’s government before the slaughter, which largely targeted Tutsis and moderate Hutus, and provided visas to alleged genocide perpetrators afterwards.  
 
They underscore a once-close relationship between Paris and the Hutu-dominated government of the time, which analysts say was forged in a bid to maintain French influence in the country.  
 
France has never apologized for any role in the genocide, but in 2010, former President Nicolas Sarkozy recognized “errors.”
 
Recent years have seen a number of arrests of genocide suspects in France, including last May, when French police nabbed the alleged genocide “financier” Felicien Kabuga, who had been hiding outside Paris for years.  
 
But several dozen suspects remain at large, or have yet to be brought to trial, says Alain Gauthier, who heads a genocide survivors’ group with his Rwandan wife.  
 
“We continue to denounce the slowness of the French justice system, we find it insupportable,” Gauthier said. “Some people being pursued are in their ‘80s, and they may die before being brought to justice.”  
 
But Gauthier says he will keep an open mind when it comes to the Duclert Commission and its forthcoming report.  
 
“Let it do its work and we’ll see what comes out of it,” he said. “If it doesn’t produce what we hope, we’ll say so.”
 
…

A court in Belarus sentenced two journalists to two years in prison Thursday on charges of orchestrating demonstrations against President Alexander Lukashenko.
 
Katsiaryna Andreyeva and Daria Chultsova of Poland’s Belsat TV were arrested in November in a Minsk apartment.  They were livestreaming ongoing protests taking place in support of a demonstrator who was killed several days earlier.
 
Andreyeva told the court ahead of the verdict she would work to build “a Belarus that won’t have political repressions.”
A lawyer for the journalists said they would appeal the verdict.
 There have been mass demonstrations in Belarus following a contested August election that Lukashenko’s opponents said was rigged to give him another term.  Lukashenko has denied the election was fraudulent.
 
A subsequent crackdown on the protests has led to the arrests of thousands of people, and prompted the United States and European Union to enact sanctions against officials in Belarus.
…

The United States plans to “repair” and “revitalize” cooperation with its European allies as Washington and Beijing are seen as competing for influence in supporting vaccine distribution and post-pandemic recovery in Europe.  U.S. President Joe Biden is set to speak virtually at the Munich Security Conference on Friday. On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will engage virtually with his counterparts from France, Germany and the United Kingdom — the so-called E3 — to discuss what State Department spokesperson Ned Price called “shared global challenges.” Blinken will also participate in the European Union’s Foreign Affairs Council on February 22 at the invitation of EU High Representative Josep Borrell. Biden’s speech would come after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s pledge to boost imports from Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries into the Chinese market in coming years. FILE – A video of China’s President Xi Jinping plays at an exhibition about China’s fight against COVID-19 at a convention center that was previously a makeshift hospital for coronavirus patients, in Wuhan, Jan. 15, 2021.Last week, Xi chaired a long-delayed virtual summit with leaders and senior officials from the so-called “17+1” bloc, eyeing access to the European COVID-19 vaccines market while reasserting China’s influence in the region. The 17+1 bloc was launched in 2012 as China sought cooperation with CEE nations. Twelve of those are European Union members. “China is willing to actively consider the vaccine cooperation needs of CEE countries,” Xi said, citing Serbia and Hungary as two countries that have already begun to roll out nationwide vaccination programs with Chinese vaccines. FILE – A man holds China’s flag next to Serbia’s flag as a plane transporting one million doses of Sinopharm’s China National Biotec Group vaccines for the coronavirus arrives at Nikola Tesla Airport in Belgrade, Serbia, Jan. 16, 2021.”China intends to import, in the coming five years, more than 170 billion U.S. dollars of goods from CEE countries,” Xi said, proposing to set up a farm produce wholesale market in the CEE region, in a bid to double CEE countries’ agricultural exports to China and raise two-way agricultural trade by 50% over the next five years. Beijing’s appeal to European countries came as Washington is shoring up efforts to, as officials described it, “revitalize core alliances” and return to multilateralism. “The Biden-Harris administration is committed to deepening dialogue and cooperation with our allies and partners on China, starting with Europe,” a State Department spokesperson told VOA. “We recognize our European partners have their own interests and relationships, and we are not forcing them to choose between China and the United States. However, we remain concerned that China has frequently used multilateral organizations as a tool to advance the PRC’s economic, national security and foreign policy interests at the expense of other countries’ peace and prosperity, respect for human rights and the rules-based international order,” said the spokesperson. Regional observers said Xi was greeted with a cold reception, with six nations choosing to send ministers instead of heads of state to the virtual summit, the lowest level of representation in nine years. The six nations are Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovenia.   “Based on [the] collective work of @chinaobseervers, the preliminary list of participation from CEE countries at the 17+1 [is expected to be] the lowest level [of] representation in the history of the summit,” tweeted China Observers in Central and Eastern Europe, a group of experts that provide informed analysis on the rising influence of China in the region.Based on a collective work of @chinaobseervers the preliminary list of participation from CEE countries at the 17+1 seems is as below. The lowest level representation in the history of the summit. pic.twitter.com/gE24VRbIqT— ChinaObservers (@chinaobservers) February 9, 2021Other observers said Beijing’s biggest success at the virtual summit was proving that the 17+1 bloc is “not dead,” while noting that Xi failed to attract all CEE heads of state to attend despite personal invitations and “desperate actions” of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “No tangible additional influence gained in the EU by Beijing,” tweeted Jakub Jakóbowski, senior fellow at the Centre for Eastern Studies, a Warsaw-based think tank. “Little chance for this summit to stop the deterioration of relations with CEE (econ. co-op stalled, wolf warrior conflicts, US pressure),” Jakóbowski added. “Certainly won’t derail CEE-US regional co-op.”Little chance for this summit to stop the deterioration of relations with CEE (econ. co-op stalled, wolf warrior conflicts, US pressure). Certainly won’t derail CEE-US regional co-op. Also, unlike ????-led #CAI, no tangible additional influence gained in the EU by Beijing (4/4)— Jakub Jakóbowski (@J_Jakobowski) February 9, 2021In January, Serbia received a million doses of Chinese Sinopharm’s COVID-19 vaccine, becoming the first European country to use Chinese vaccines for its mass rollout. Serbia and China have maintained close ties as Chinese companies invest billions of euros in Serbia’s infrastructure and energy projects.Serbia Becomes First European Country to Use Chinese COVID Vaccine for Mass Rollout Belgrade maintains close ties with Beijing and Chinese companies have invested billions of Euros in Serbia, mainly in infrastructure and energy projectsAlso in January, Hungary became the first European Union country to approve China’s Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine. Many EU countries rely on vaccines provided by American companies Pfizer and Moderna. 
…

Artworks owned by the late artist Christo and his wife, Jean-Claude, a duo famed for wrapping landmarks in fabric, sold for $9.6 million at auction on Wednesday.The 28 lots under the hammer at Sotheby’s in Paris included drawings for the couple’s “The Umbrellas (Joint project for Japan and USA),” two spectacular installations by the couple in 1991 consisting of thousands of umbrellas erected simultaneously in Japan and Los Angeles.Less than a year after his death at the age of 84, Christo is evidently more in demand than ever, with more than three quarters of the works on sale selling above estimate.The works, snapped up by buyers in the United States, Asia and Europe, had been expected to sell for between $3 million and $4.5 million collectively.The preparatory drawings for the yellow Californian umbrellas set a new record for a work by the Bulgarian-born U.S. artist at $2 million, while the Japanese version sold for about $1.4 million.A second set of works from the couple’s private collection are due to go on sale Thursday.Christo collaborated with Jeanne-Claude, his wife of 51 years, until her death in 2009 and continued to produce dramatic pieces into his 80s.From Paris’s oldest bridge to Berlin’s Reichstag, they spent decades wrapping landmarks and creating improbable structures around the world.Their large-scale productions would take years of preparation and were costly to erect, but they were mostly ephemeral, coming down after just weeks or months.
…

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is calling on Russia to release top Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny. ECHR said in a press release Wednesday that it “grants an interim measure in favor of” Navalny and “asks the Government of Russia to release him.”  The court’s ruling demanded that Navalny be released immediately, warning that failure to do so would mark a breach of the European human rights convention.The court pointed to Rule 39 of its regulations, citing “the nature and extent of risk to the applicant’s life.”  FILE – This photo shows the inside of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, eastern France, Feb. 7, 2019.Navalny, 44, has been jailed since his return to Russia last month. Moscow said he violated the terms of his probation while recuperating in Germany from a poisoning attack. The sentence stems from a 2014 embezzlement conviction ECHR has ruled to be unlawful.  Navalny was treated in Germany following a nerve-agent poisoning in Siberia last August. He blamed Russia for the poisoning, a charge denied by the Kremlin.  Several western countries have called for Navalny’s release, threatening to impose sanctions against Russia over the case. The Russian Justice Ministry warned in a statement that the ECHR’s demand would represent a “crude interference into the judicial system” of Russia and “cross the red line.” ECHR is the international court of the Council of Europe, Europe’s main human rights forum. In the past, it has complied with ECHR’s rulings to compensate Russian citizens who contested verdicts in Russian courts, but it has never faced a demand by the court to release someone who has been detained.  
 
…

A top Russian diplomat says the Taliban insurgency is “flawlessly” adhering to the terms of a 2020 peace deal with the United States to help end the war in Afghanistan and is urging Washington not to renege on its commitments.
 
Zamir Kabulov, Russia’s presidential envoy to Afghanistan, spoke ahead of Wednesday’s NATO conference aimed at determining whether to meet a May 1 deadline agreed to with the Taliban for the withdrawal of U.S. and allied troops from Afghanistan. He also spoke as the number of attacks carried out by the Taliban continue to rise.
 
The meeting in Brussels of NATO defense ministers comes amid increased allegations the Islamist insurgent group has committed serious breaches of the Feb. 29 pact by not reducing Afghan battlefield violence and not cutting ties with international terrorist groups.
 
“Taliban violence is much higher than historical norms,” Gen. Scott Miller, the head of U.S. forces and the NATO-led non-combat Resolute Support mission, told Reuters Wednesday. “It just doesn’t create the conditions to move forward in what is hopefully a historic turning point for Afghanistan.” NATO Chief: No Troop Withdrawal from Afghanistan ‘Before the Time Is Right’ Washington has reduced the number of US forces in the country to 2,500 from nearly 13,000 a year agoA United Nations report issued earlier this month noted that the Taliban also has not severed its ties to the al-Qaida network.
 
On Monday, the U.N. mission in the country published a new report that points to a sharp increase in targeted killings of Afghan human rights defenders and journalists in recent months.
 
The Taliban denies it is behind the assassination spree but Afghan officials blame the insurgents and independent observers also say the group’s denial is not convincing.
 
The increase in violence prompted U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration to review the deal before deciding on whether to bring home the remaining 2,500 American soldiers from the South Asian nation to close what has been the longest military intervention in U.S. history.Taliban Urges US Public to Demand Early Pullout From AfghanistanBiden administration is reviewing whether the Taliban is honoring its commitments before deciding to withdraw remaining 2,500 US troopsDespite that, the Russian state-owned Sputnik News Agency quoted Kabulov as saying, “The Taliban adhere to the agreement almost flawlessly – not a single American soldier has died since the agreement was signed – which cannot be said about the Americans.”The Russian envoy accused the U.S. military of “repeatedly” carrying out airstrikes against Taliban-held Afghan area positions “under various pretexts.”
 
Kabulov also downplayed the presence of al-Qaida operatives in Afghanistan, saying the terror network has about 500 militants in the country and they do not constitute a major security challenge.
 
“If the new (U.S) administration decides not to withdraw (the troops), it will violate the agreement with the Taliban. It doesn’t look good for anyone. The Taliban have announced the war will continue (if foreign troops extend their stay),” said Kabulov.
 
Through an “open letter,” the Taliban also urged the Biden administration on Tuesday to stick to the troop withdrawal agreement, describing it as “the most effective way of ending” the war in Afghanistan.
 
American officials maintain the U.S. has reduced its forces in Afghanistan from nearly 13,000 a year ago to 2,500 to meet its obligations outlined in the agreement. They also acknowledge the U.S. military has suffered no casualties since the signing of the accord with the Taliban that bound insurgents not to stage attacks against foreign troops.
 
Kabulov said Moscow is trying to host a multination meeting later this month on how to nudge the Afghan warring parties back to the negotiating table for peace talks that stemmed from the U.S.-Taliban agreement but have been suspended since early last month.
 
The Taliban and Afghan government negotiators have accused each other of dragging their feet in the talks that started last September but failed to produce any tangible results.
 
Kabulov said China, the U.S., Iran and Pakistan have been invited to the proposed meeting to develop a “collective mechanism to push the warring Afghan sides to return to table and “declare a cease-fire at least for the period of the negotiation process.”
 
The Russian envoy said he will travel to Islamabad this week for “consultations” with Pakistani officials on the Afghan peace process. A Pakistani foreign ministry source told VOA the Russian diplomat is scheduled to arrive in the country on Friday.
 
Kabulov blamed the Afghan government for delaying the start of the intra-Afghan talks that were originally scheduled to begin in March of last year.
 
“The Kabul administration has already done a lot of stupid things: it delayed the start of negotiations in anticipation of a change of administration in Washington, thinking that the next administration would behave differently,” alleged Kabulov.
 
He went on to assert the delayl in starting the negotiations has allowed the Taliban to expand their influence to “three quarters of the territory of Afghanistan” and “strengthen their negotiating position.”
 
A senior Afghan Interior Ministry official, Sediq Sediqqi, criticized Kabulov for defending the Taliban.
 
“No one should just close their eyes and say that the Taliban adhered to the terms. If that was the case, Afghans would have lived in a cease-fire and peace, the talks would continue and there would have been a solution. Taliban are the main violator and they at war with Afghans,” Sediqqi tweeted.
 
Critics acknowledge Biden faces a tough challenge in deciding how to proceed in Afghanistan but they say abandoning the timelines agreed upon with the Taliban will have consequences.
 
“If the U.S. extends its military presence beyond May 1, there’s a good chance the Taliban will declare the Doha deal null and void, its war against the U.S. will be back on, a nascent and fragile intra-Afghan dialogue will fall apart, and we will be back to square one,” said Michael Kugelman at Washington’s Wilson Center.
…

Britain’s 99-year-old Prince Philip has been admitted to a London hospital after feeling unwell, Buckingham Palace said Wednesday.
The palace said the husband of Queen Elizabeth II was admitted to the private King Edward VII Hospital on Tuesday evening.
It called the admission “a precautionary measure” taken on the advice of Philip’s doctor. The palace said he is expected to remain for a few days of “observation and rest.”
His illness is not related to COVID-19. The queen and Philip were vaccinated against the coronavirus in early January.
Philip, also known as the Duke of Edinburgh, retired from public duties in 2017 and rarely appears in public.  
During England’s current coronavirus lockdown, he has been staying at Windsor Castle, west of London, with the queen.
Philip married the then-Princess Elizabeth in 1947 and is the longest-serving royal consort in British history. He and the queen have four children, eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
A former naval officer and keen polo player, Philip enjoyed robust health well into old age but has had a number of health issues in recent years.
In 2011, he was rushed to a hospital by helicopter after suffering chest pains and treated for a blocked coronary artery. In 2017, he spent two nights in the King Edward VII hospital and was hospitalized for 10 days in 2018 for a hip replacement.
Philip was last hospitalized in December 2019, spending four nights in the King Edward VII Hospital for what the palace said was planned treatment of a pre-existing condition.
He was forced to give up driving at the age of 97, after smashing into a car while driving a Land Rover near Sandringham estate in January 2019. Philip needed help to get out of the Land Rover but wasn’t injured. A woman in the other vehicle suffered a broken wrist.
…

Britain wants to see proof that Sheikha Latifa, one of the ruler of Dubai’s daughters, is still alive after the BBC showed a video in which she said she was being held against her will in a barricaded villa, the foreign minister said on Wednesday.
 
“It’s deeply troubling and you can see a young woman under deep distress,” Dominic Raab said.
 
In the video, shown as part of the BBC’s Panorama current affairs programme, Latifa, 35, said: “I am a hostage and this villa has been converted into a jail.”
 
She said she was making the video in the bathroom of the villa, the only room she could lock herself into, adding: “All the windows are barred shut, I can’t open any window.”
 
Asked whether he would support seeing some kind of proof from the United Arab Emirates that Sheikha Latifa was alive, Raab told Sky News television: “Given what we’ve just seen, I think people would just at a human level want to see that she’s alive and well.”
 
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the United Nations was looking into the situation.
 
“That’s something obviously that we are concerned about but the U.N. Commission on Human Rights is looking at that,” he told reporters. “I think what we’ll do is wait and see how they get on. We’ll keep an eye on that.”
 
The Dubai government’s media office referred questions about the video to Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum’s law firm, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
 
Reuters could not independently verify when or where the video was recorded.
 Free Latifa” Campaign
 
Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed al-Maktoum drew international attention in 2018 when a human rights group released a video made by her in which she described an attempt to escape Dubai.
 
Last March, a London High Court judge said he accepted as proved a series of allegations made by Sheikh Mohammed’s former wife, Princess Haya, in a legal battle, including that the sheikh ordered the abduction of Latifa. The sheikh’s lawyers rejected the allegations.
 
Asked if Britain would impose sanctions on the UAE after the video, Raab said: “It’s not clear to me that there would be the evidence to support that.”
 
The Free Latifa campaign, which has lobbied for her release, said it had managed to smuggle a phone to Latifa, which had been used to send a series of secret video messages taken over the past two years.
 
Before Tuesday, the only time Latifa had been seen since she was brought back to Dubai was when her family released photos of her sitting with Mary Robinson, a former Irish president and a United Nations high commissioner for human rights, in late 2018.
 
But Robinson told the BBC she had been “horribly tricked” during the visit and never asked Latifa about her situation, fearing it would exacerbate a mental condition she was told the princess had.
 
Mohammed has a vast horse racing stable in Britain and has been pictured with Queen Elizabeth at Royal Ascot horse races.
…