ROSCOMMON WOMAN TORI Towey arrived home in Ireland today following the lifting of a travel ban imposed on her by Dubai authorities after she was charged with attempting suicide and alcohol consumption.
Speaking at Dublin Airport this afternoon, Tori thanked the public, politicians and the Detained in Dubai group for their support.
“This is such an amazing country and I feel bad for people who don’t have the support that we have. We’re such a tight-knit country who have each other’s back,” she said.
On Tuesday, the Dáil was informed that Dubai authorities had banned Tori from leaving.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said Tori had been “subjected to sustained and brutal domestic violence and abuse” and when she sought help “she was sent home with her husband”.
McDonald said Tori’s husband “destroyed her passport” and subjected her to a “vicious beating” two weeks ago.
The Sinn Féin leader also outlined how Tori had attempted to die by suicide in a “desperate attempt to escape the violence”.
“When Tori came to, she was surrounded by paramedics – but instead of being taken to a hospital, she was taken to a police station,” McDonald said.
Tori was then charged with attempted suicide and alcohol abuse and “placed in a cell with 50 other women”, she added.
The charges against Tori were dropped yesterday and the Dubai Public Prosecution Office said it had closed the case involving Tori and her husband, a South African national.
The case has raised questions about certains laws in Dubai, particularly whether or not suicide is deemed a crime.
Suicide and attempted suicide were illegal in the United Arab Emirates prior to 2020, when the Gulf nation embarked on a large overhaul of its legal system.
In an attempt to modernise its laws and be more appealing to western visitors, these reforms decriminalised suicide and also softened rules around alcohol consumption.
It is legal to drink alcohol at home in the UAE, or in licensed venues such as hotels, restaurants and clubs. However, it is illegal to drink in public places or be intoxicated in public.
People who attempted suicide prior to the legal change were rarely prosecuted, but it wasn’t unheard of. Since 2020, people can still technically be sent to jail and/or be fined if they attempt suicide.
UAE law states that anyone who attempts suicide could be “subject to the punishments of incarceration for no more than six months or a fine of no more than AED Five Thousand (about €1,250), or both of the two punishments”.
“The Court may order the detention of the convicted defendant in a healing facility in lieu of the punishment determined for the crime in accordance with the controls provided for in Article (137) of this Law.”
Radha Stirling, founder of the Detained in Dubai group which helped secure Tori’s release, said people can clearly still be detained for attempting suicide or drinking alcohol at home – as Tori’s case highlighted.
Speaking to The Journal, she said: “Obviously it hasn’t been decriminalised if you can go to court, if you can be taken to court.”
Even if certain things are technically decriminalised, “it doesn’t actually necessarily work in reality”, she added.
“So it can still get through the court system. And maybe she doesn’t get a jail sentence, but they send her to a mental institution or something like that, which is also a possibility. So you still have these issues.”
Stirling said Dubai is a “patriarchal society, where men are more favoured” – in general and, crucially, by police and the judicial system.
A prime example of this is the fact rape victims have historically been charged with extramarital sex, she noted.
Stirling said Tori’s husband did not open a case against her, rather the police seemed to take it upon themselves to do so.
“It has come from the police directly, and it’s almost like it’s been automatic, ‘Okay, test her for alcohol. Yes, there’s alcohol in her bloodstream’.
“So that’s an automatic charge, even though they’re supposed to have changed the laws with regards to alcohol…
Mind you, she drank at home, so she should be absolutely fine. It’s bizarre that they charged her.
Stirling said that whether or not a person is charged with a particular offence, or jailed, seems to largely depend on which police officer or judge is dealing with them.
“They brought in a rule, but if the police and the prosecutors aren’t following it, and they’re still pushing it through the courts, then it’s going to be up to a judge, and the judge does not have to abide by precedent law.”
Stirling said, with this in mind, the outcome of Tori’s case, if it had not been dropped, could have been “very random”.
Contains reporting from David MacRedmond and Diarmuid Pepper
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