Dublin. Former Irish President Mary Robinson has apologized for her role in the kidnapping of her daughter by Princess Latifa, the ruler of Dubai. In an interview with the Irish public broadcaster RTE on Friday evening, Robinson said that going to Dubai for dinner in the presence of Princess Latifa in 2018 was his biggest mistake and that he was not more careful about the situation the princess was in.

The Latifas family cited the encounter as evidence that the princess had not been taken hostage against her will. Robinson, a former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, described Latifa, now 36, as “a troubled young woman.” She later told the British BBC that Latifa was believed to have bipolar disorder. She did not want to talk to them about possible traumatic events.

Robinson now says he was innocent. They now trust the “100 percent” princess.

Princess Latifa talks about being in jail in video recordings

Video recordings were re-released in mid-February, in which Latifa says he was in Dubai at the behest of his father, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. According to friends, she secretly recorded videos on a smartphone. Friends have now published the videos saying they have not received any signs of life for months.

Latifa will be cared for by her family and medical staff at home, Dubai officials said. “She is recovering well and we hope she will return to public life in due course,” the BBC quoted the family as saying.

Latifa tried to leave Dubai with a rubber dinghy

In February 2018, Latifa tried to leave Dubai with a rubber dinghy and yard. Her friends reported that a special unit had detained her and forcibly brought her back from the Indian coast. Latifa’s older sister was abducted from Cambridge and taken to Dubai in 2000. Last year, a British court found Sheikh Mohammed responsible for abducting his two daughters and threatening one of his wives as part of a divorce proceedings.