Sir, – Mary Robinson claims that she was “horribly tricked” into going on international media a few years ago to describe Princess Latifa as “clearly troubled”.
But even if everything Mrs Robinson believed at the time was true (and especially if everything she believed was true), how can she have thought that posing for photographs and giving this interview was a right or proper thing to do?
At the time, not knowing the truth of Princess Latifa’s situation, I watched the footage with embarrassed horror.
Why would anybody choose to expose somebody else publicly in this way? – Yours, etc,
CAITRIONA
CLEAR,
Newcastle,
Galway.
A chara, – Your editorial "Abduction of Princess Lafita" (February 18th) and news report (February 17th) are noticeably lenient in their treatment of Mary Robinson and her dealings with the regime in Dubai.
Would others get such an easy time?
Mary Robinson says she was “misled’ and “horribly tricked”.
But is this credible?
There are glaring contradictions in her version of events. She says she was “stunned” that the pictures and video were made public, yet she took the time to travel all the way to Dubai, posed for them and made a public statement to accompany them. In this statement, she presented herself as an informed observer, yet now she tells us she only met the princess once, did not want to ruin a nice lunch and simply repeated what she was told.
The Emir of Dubai is powerful, rich and useful.
Mary Robinson is a hardened and experienced politician; she is neither naive nor easily misled. – Is mise,
CIARÁN Mac GUILL,
Clichy,
France.