Taoiseach says travel ban on Irish woman detained in Dubai for ‘attempted suicide’ has been lifted
Taoiseach Simon Harris has told the Dáil the travel ban on Co Roscommon woman Tori Towey, who has been reportedly charged with attempted suicide and consuming alcohol in Dubai, has been lifted.
Ms Towey (28), who moved to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) city last year, had been prevented from leaving the country as a result of the charges. It is understood those charges have now been dropped.
“The Embassy will take Tori to the airport as soon as she is ready to go,” Mr Harris told TDs on Wednesday. “And the Embassy will of course continue to follow up the case which is still active as of now.
“I just wanted to inform the House of that and to thank our Embassy,” he said.
The Department of Foreign Affairs was providing consular assistance to Ms Towey, who works for Emirates Airlines and whose case was first highlighted by campaign group Dubai Detained.
On Tuesday, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald told the Dáil that Ms Towey was the victim of domestic violence and was subjected to a travel ban over allegations she illegally consumed alcohol and attempted suicide. Attempted suicide is a crime in the Arab state, carrying a sentence of up to six months.
On Wednesday, Mr Harris told Ms McDonald that Ireland’s Ambassador to the UAE, Alison Milton, “has been in very frequent and intense contact with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs” on Ms Towey’s situation.
“I don’t want to say too much more on the record in this House because I don’t want to say anything that cuts across a very intense effort that is under way,” he said.
The Taoiseach stressed that Ms Towey “doesn’t need to come home after a court case because she is not a criminal. She’s a victim of gender-based violence, and we expect her to be able to return to Ireland as an Irish citizen without delay”.
“I think it’s so important. Does everybody around the world including Dubai, UAE, know that we’re speaking with one voice in this House in relation to this situation?
“An Irish woman, an Irish citizen, has been a victim of a horrific male violence, has been the victim of the most brutal, horrific attack one can imagine.”
Ms McDonald had warned “the coming hours are crucial because once the Dubai court process kicks in, it becomes harder and harder to get Tori back home to Ireland quickly and Tori wants to come home. So the Government needs to do absolutely everything to get her home”.
She added the “Dubai authorities must drop the charges against her, remove the travel ban and allow this woman to travel home”.
The Sinn Féin leader gave more details of Ms Towey’s situation in Dubai where she lived and had married last March. “Since then, Tori has been subjected to sustained and brutal domestic violence and abuse,” she said.
“When she went to the authorities to seek help, instead of being protected, she was sent home with her husband. Her husband then destroyed her passport so she couldn’t travel and she couldn’t work.
“Just over two weeks ago, she endured a particularly vicious beating. Her husband repeatedly slammed doors on her arms trying to break her limbs, and he tried to strangle her as she fled upstairs in a desperate attempt to escape the violence,” Ms McDonald said.
“And in desperation, she tried to take her own life. When Tori came to she was surrounded by paramedics but instead of being taken to a hospital, she was taken to a police station. There she was charged with attempted suicide and alcohol abuse. Tori was placed in a cell with 50 other women. She wasn’t told what she was charged with. She wasn’t given any information.”
Tánaiste Micheál Martin has paid tribute to Ms Milton for her role in the lifting of the travel ban against Ms Towey.
Speaking on RTÉ radio’s News at One, Mr Martin said he had anticipated “good news” from Tuesday evening but there was a process to go through and he could not comment on cases until they were completed.
Mr Martin said he anticipated Ms Towey and her mother, Caroline, would be returning to Ireland at the earliest opportunity now that her passport had been returned.
The Ambassador and her team in the UAE had opened up “good channels of communication and engagement” with the UAE authorities, he said.
“It has been very, very challenging, and traumatic for Tori over the last while. But I think our team there has been in contact and has engaged with the family and indeed with the authorities as well. And, it’s been a constructive engagement. And they have responded with the issue being resolved.”
The Ambassador would be working with Ms Towey and her mother to support them on their journey home, he said.
Speaking to reporters in Leinster House on Wednesday morning before attending the Dáil session, Mr Harris said Ms Towey had been through the “most horrific situation”. He said it was utterly unacceptable treatment of an Irish citizen.
Ms Towey was the victim of a brutal attack and found herself waking up not in a hospital but in a police station, the Taoiseach said.
Commenting earlier on the Government’s response, Detained in Dubai chief executive Radha Stirling said: “I’m super impressed by Ireland’s response, it was so swift.
“When a Government gets behind their citizens, when they go the extra mile, they are successful in getting citizens home,” she said on Newstalk Breakfast.
“When it comes to a case like this, it’s all about diplomacy. Without the support of the Irish Government, she would be likely to face prison and charges and deportation,” she said.
“She is exhausted and she’s finding it very overwhelming. But at the same time, we’re really, really warmed by all of the support that she’s been getting. I don’t think she expected all of that. I don’t think she expected the Irish Government to motivate themselves as quickly. And this is the fastest I’ve ever seen this happen from a Government. So I’m super impressed by Ireland’s response.”
Also earlier today, Anne Flynn, aunt of Ms Towey, said the family was hoping that diplomatic efforts will lead to charges being dropped and her return to Ireland. “We are just all very, very anxious,” she told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.
“We keep hoping that we’ll get word that they’re [Ms Towey and her mother, Caroline] on a plane. On the way home. I don’t know. Will this court case go ahead? Or if it goes, what will happen? You know, we’re just very hopeful. And it’s really terrible that this has happened to a young woman, you know, that was full of life and full of adventure. And she loved travelling. And, you know, she’s a beautiful young woman.
“We’re hoping that just something will happen, that it won’t go to court. It’s hard to believe that this young woman has been charged with trying to commit suicide. And, you know, it’s very, very hard to believe it.”
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