Disappearance of the Al-Suwaidi sisters
In February 2015, three sisters from the United Arab Emirates, Asma, Mariam, and Alyaziyah Khalifa al-Suwaidi, disappeared after their arrest by Emirati authorities for tweeting.[1] The three sisters are thought to have had no access to legal representation or their family.[2]
The sisters had tweeted "I miss my brother" in reference to their brother, Issa al-Suwaidi, one of 69 people that received a 10-year prison sentence in 2013 after being convicted of having suspected links to al-Islah, an Islamist group accused by the UAE government of conspiring to overthrow it. The 69 convicted people were part of the 'UAE 94' trial of activists that had been held in secret detention for their alleged attempt in 2013 to overthrow the Emirati government. Several other relatives of the 'UAE 94' prisoners have been "harassed, intimidated or arrested after criticizing proceedings or publicizing allegations of torture in detention" on Twitter after being held in secret detention facilities for weeks or months without communication according to the international human rights organisation Amnesty International. Amnesty said that the sisters were "at risk of torture or other ill-treatment" and a spokesperson said that the sisters should be "...immediately and unconditionally released, like all others detained solely for peaceful expression."[2]
The three sisters were summoned to a police station in Abu Dhabi for questioning, and their mother received a call from a government security official the next day telling her that her daughters were fine, but no further information was provided.[3] The UAE government believes that al-Islah is related to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and has been classified as a terrorist organisation by the Emirati authorities.[3]
