Ibrahim Halawa’s trial in Egypt has been postponed again.
This is the 16th time the trial has been put back.
Ibrahim, who was a teenager when he was arrested, will turn 21 in jail next month (December 13 – the same day as the rescheduled trial). He has spent 1182 days in prison.
Campaigners, including Amnesty International, say the Dubliner’s prolonged detention without trial and his treatment while behind bars amounts to torture.
“This is an appalling and intolerable injustice,” said Green Party deputy leader Catherine Martin.
“Justice delayed is justice denied…How can we believe this trial is even going to happen?”
Amnesty has declared Ibrahim a prisoner of conscience, based on its own eye-witness evidence that he could not have carried out the acts he is accused of.
In a statement on the Amnesty site today, the organisation says: “He was arrested and arbitrarily detained solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.”
Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan has written to Taoiseach Enda Kenny calling on him to directly intervene on behalf of Ibrahim.
She said that the Taoiseach must make personal contact with Egypt’s President and ask that he approve Ibrahim’s release by Presidential Decree.
Boylan said: “Ibrahim Halawa is an Irish citizen, a young man from Dublin, who is being held captive in Egypt without trial. This grievous injustice is going on for over three long years.
“This is the sixteenth postponement of Ibrahim’s trial. He continues to suffer appalling physical and mental degradation as he languishes in prison far from home.
“We cannot begin to imagine the anguish being felt by his family this afternoon as they heard the news of yet another postponement.
“I have to ask, where is the urgency from the Irish government?
“I have written to the Taoiseach to express my strong view that he must now pick up the phone and makes personal contact with the President Egypt to request that he grants the release of Ibrahim by President Decree.
“All of the evidence shows that such a decree will only be successful if it is followed up with intense diplomatic pressure. It is absolutely imperative that the Taoiseach makes direct contact with President Abdel Fattah el Sisi.
“This is something that Enda Kenny must do today. It is his responsibility to intervene to ensure that a citizen of this country is no longer held in inhumane and unjust incarceration.
“Do the right thing, Taoiseach. Make that call.”
