(CNN)Former UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson has been criticized for describing a daughter of Dubai's billionaire ruler who was feared missing as "troubled" and in the "loving care of her family."
Robinson, who appeared in photos alongside Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum dated December 15 -- told BBC's Radio 4 on Thursday that the princess was a "vulnerable" young woman with a "serious medical situation" for which she was receiving psychiatric care.
She also said Sheikha Latifa "now regrets" her planned escape from Dubai earlier this year.
However, Radha Stirling -- the CEO of UK-based advocacy group Detained in Dubai -- accused Robinson's account of being too similar to the emirate's official position.
She said Robinson, the former president of Ireland, "appeared to be reciting almost verbatim from Dubai's script."
Sheikha Latifa is seen with former Irish president Mary Robinson in Dubai in a photo dated December 15, 2018.
Stirling questioned why Robinson made no reference to Sheikha Latifa's previous claim that she was tortured and detained for three years following a previous failed attempt to leave the UAE in 2002 as a teenager.
She also said Robinson failed to question the raid of Sheikha Latifa's boat in international waters amid her second escape attempt earlier this year.
"Sheikha Latifa phoned me on the night of her abduction, pleading for my help," Stirling said.
"Given what she has conveyed to me, this meeting in no way satisfies me that she is free from the abuse that she told me she had suffered for years."
Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, also questioned Robinson's comments on Twitter.
"Mary Robinson says UAE Princess Latifa is 'troubled,' suggesting a pre-existing condition though I'd be troubled too if I tried to escape a gilded prison and was kidnapped back," Roth said.
"Would Robinson know the difference?"
Robinson defended the encounter in a statement issued by her office, adding that she would make no further comment at this time.
"During my time with her Sheikha Latifa presented as a very likeable young woman with a wide range of interests but her vulnerability was apparent," the statement said.
"Since my return from Dubai I have written a report of my visit to Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. I believe future action rests with that office, with the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances and with the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.
"I am dismayed at some of the media comments on my visit and I would like to say I undertook the visit and made an assessment, not a judgement, based on personal witness, in good faith and to the best of my ability."
Three low-resolution photos, which were released by the UAE foreign ministry on Monday, showed Sheikha Latifa dressed in a dark hooded sweatshirt and gray jeans while she either looked away from the camera or towards Robinson.
Mary Robinson, seen with Sheikha Latifa in the photo dated December 15, 2018, described the princess as "troubled."
Robinson made the visit at the request of the ruling family, according to a communique the UAE mission in Geneva sent to the Office of Special Pr