ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — There’s an unusual problem brewing in the UAE this week. The Daily News has received a copy of an apparent video that we’ve now discovered (it was originally released Sunday, and just now, arrived in our newsroom).
The video, which at the request of the Qatari government and Royal Family will not be shown in this newspaper. However, we are permitted to discuss it. On Sunday, a reported Youtube video of Sheikh Abdullah bin Ali al-Thani appeared online claiming that the Abu Dhabi government and the region’s Crown Prince were “holding him hostage” rather than hosting him.
“I’m currently in Abu Dhabi, being hosted by Sheikh Mohamed. But this is not a hosting status. Rather, it is a ‘holding’ one. They told me not to move,” he says in the video.
UAE officials denied the claim on Twitter, citing, that he can leave when he wants. But, as the BBC notes, this isn’t the first time a foreign head of state has found themselves trapped in the troubling country.