ICFR CALLS FOR THE IRISH GOVERNMENT TO DEMAND THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF IRISH NATIONAL IBRAHIM HALAWA
ICFR strongly condemns the imprisonment of Irish teenager Ibrahim Halawa and calls on the Irish Government to demand his immediate release. Ibrahim was just 17 when he was arrested with his three older sisters after they sought shelter in a Cairo mosque after attending a pro-democracy protest in August 2013. Although his siblings were released, Ibrahim was placed in adult custody, despite being a minor. He suffered beatings and has been denied medical treatment for a gunshot wound to his hand following his arrest, and as a result, his hand is now permanently disfigured. Ibrahim, now 19, awaits a mass trial with 494 other detainees charged collectively with causing deaths and criminal damage. He faces the death penalty if convicted. Ibrahim, as thousands of others languishing in Egypt’s prisons, has been repeatedly denied access to his lawyer and denied the right to a proper court hearing. His civil and basic human rights are being consistently and systematically violated by the Egyptian Government.
Ibrahim’s mockery hearing has been postponed time and time again, offering Ibrahim and his family further psychological torture. The latest postponement was on March 29, 2015. ICFR demands that before this farcical trial is resumed and Ibrahim’s life is put at risk, the Irish Government, the EU and the free world calls for the release of Ibrahim and his safe return to his family in Dublin.