Saturday, February 28, 2015

3 women risk torture in secret UAE detention over ‘I miss my brother’ tweet...

Three women questioned and detained by UAE police in February are “at risk of torture or other ill-treatment,” Amnesty International says. The sisters tweeted in support of their brother, a prisoner of conscience.

The women – Asma, Mariam, and Alyaziyah Khalifa al-Suwaidi – disappeared after they were taken to a police station in Abu Dhabi on February 15, the human rights watchdog said in a Friday report. Prior to that, the three spoke out on social media to draw attention to their brother’s unfair trial.

“Shortly after posting a tweet that said ‘I miss my brother,' Asma Khalifa al-Suwaidi and her two sisters were summoned by police and now have vanished as if into a black hole,” Philip Luther, director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International, said in a press release.

The sisters' mother received a brief phone call the day after her daughters didn’t return home. A person claiming to be a state security official said: “Your daughters are fine,” with no further details. The sisters are believed to have no access to a lawyer, or to their family.

 Issa al-Suwaidi, the brother of the three women, is among 69 activists convicted in a 'UAE 94' trial after being held in secret detention for an alleged attempt to overthrow the government in 2013. Full story...

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