60 Minutes: Dubai Royal Family insider reveals
palace secrets after Princess flees to seek
asylum.
Life for members of Dubai’s royal family
should be a fairy tale.
Surrounded by privilege and opulent wealth,
those who call the palace home live glamorous
and exciting lives.
But why then have three princesses tried to
flee their palatial home and escape?
Tonight on 60 Minutes, an exclusive interview
with a palace insider reveals never-before
-shared secrets from the Royal family.
Marcus Essabri, a member of Dubai’s Royal
family, close to Princesses Shamsa and Latifa,
is breaking his silence in a desperate bid
to help the Princesses, who he fears are in
danger.
“I'm another hope.
I believe that everything that anybody does
will help Latifa and Shamsa,” he tells 60
Minutes reporter Tom Steinfort in an exclusive
sneak peek.
For the first time, the palace insider will
talk about life inside the royal family where
he says the freedoms of women are severely
restricted – and there are torturous consequences
for those who dare to defy those in power.
“There’s no freedom,” he tells Steinfort.
“If I had stayed there, if I had been kept
there, I don't think I could have survived.”
The exclusive interview comes after Dubai’s
Royal family made international headlines.
Last month, 45-year-old Princess Haya fled
Dubai with her two young children, seeking
asylum in London and apparently trying to
escape her husband - the powerful, billionaire
ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid
Al Maktoum.
But Princess Haya is not the first to attempt
escape from Dubai’s Royal family.
In July 2000, 18-year-old Princess Shamsa
escaped to England – experiencing just weeks
of freedom before she was found and forcibly
taken back to Dubai.
It is alleged that Shamsa has been imprisoned
since then, for almost two decades.
Last year, Princess Latifa – Sheik Mohammed’s
daughter – tried to flee Dubai.
But her extraordinary escape plan was foiled
when armed commandoes raided the boat she
and her friend were using to reach India.
They dragged Latifa away at gunpoint, returning
her to Dubai.
60 Minutes speaks exclusively to Marcus Essabri,
an exiled member of the royal family who says
his fears for the Princesses wellbeing is
now too great to stay quiet.
“I couldn't sleep at night.
I have to do something,” he says.
‘Battle Royale’ airs this Sunday on Channel
9 after Australian Ninja Warrior.
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