VP/HR — Women held in secret detention facilities in the UAE

12.3.2015

Question for written answer E-004078-15
to the Commission (Vice-President/High Representative)
Rule 130
Barbara Matera (PPE)

Three women, all sisters, in the UAE were taken in for questioning on 15 February 2015 in response to a tweet that one of the sisters had written saying ‘I miss my brother’. This tweet followed the unfair mass trial of Dr Issa al-Suwaidi, brother to the three women, in which he had been accused of being a reformist and of criticising the government.

No one has heard from these women since they were taken in for questioning, and many fear that they are being held against their will in a secret detention facility without access to a lawyer. These women will likely be subject to ill-treatment and torture if they are not released soon.

1. What can the EU do to find out what has happened to these women and to free them from their captors?

2. What can be done to ensure that freedom of speech is not violated?