Pressure is mounting on the Irish Government to do more to secure the release of Ibrahim Halawa, a 19-year-old from Firhouse in Dublin who has been behind bars for nearly two years, following his arrest in Cairo during political protests.
In July, Foreign Affairs Minister, Charlie Flanagan, said that a formal request for the release of Halawa had been made to authorities in Egypt.
However, the failure of the Government to secure the young man’s release while citizens of other western countries have been freed by the Egyptian regime after being charged with similar crimes has been strongly criticised by supporters.
Ibrahim, whose father Hussein is the imam of the Clonskeagh mosque in Dublin , is to be tried en masse with 483 others accused of attempting to overthrow the regime of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Former Workers’ Party President, Séan Garland, has met Ibrahim’s father to discuss his plight and is strongly critical of the lack of action from the Irish Government.
He said: “It comes after a Londonbased law firm, said that there were a number of options available to the Government that could see the Dublin teenager freed. Minister Flanagan told an all-party committee that they applied for a presidential decree in February of this year.
“The embassy was expressly told, by the former Prosecutor-General himself, that in terms of the application by this law of his office it will not be applied where an individual is in the course of a trial process,” he said.
