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Ireland's political and cultural magazine
72September/October 2015
years into his engineering degree
in Trinity. Instead he sits in a cell
in Cairo facing the death penalty.
The Irish government has opted
for a strategy of quiet diplomacy.
From my conversations with NGOs
and human rights lawyers working
in Egypt and London I disagree with
this strategy. There are, however, still
a number of simple measures that
the Irish government could take that
would improve Ibrahim’s situation.
Ibrahim has asked to see an
outside doctor for breathing difficul-
ties. He struggled to breathe when
we met with him. Minister Flana-
gan should write to his counterpart
asking that this request be granted.
There has been no ambassador
in Egypt since April. The consulate
based in Cairo covers four other coun-
tries. Fast-tracking the appointment
of the new ambassador would ease
the workload on the consulate. More
importantly, an ambassador car-
ries more status for dealing with
Egyptian officials. The Australian Con-
sulate brought Peter Greste’s family
with them when they visited him in
prison. The Irish Consulate should
seek to do the same for the Halawas.
These steps may be small but they
would make a huge difference to the
morale of this young Dublin teen. •
any point the permit can be rejected.
We were brought into the Gover-
nor’s office when they realised I was
an MEP. We sat there for an hour
while they got Ibrahim ‘ready’. Khad-
ija explained how they would shave
and dress him in clean clothes for
his visit with a parliamentarian.
When Ibrahim entered the room, his
sister rushed to hug him. The emotional
reunion of the two was heartbreak-
ing. Deprived of physical contact for
over a year, Ibrahim clung to his sis-
ter’s hand for the whole visit as he
detailed the horrific prison conditions.
He is confined to a m x m cell with
nine other prisoners, twenty-four hours
a day. There are no beds, no shower, just
a tap and the toilet is a hole in the floor.
Every morning he wakes to the
sounds of prisoners screaming. He
himself was beaten two weeks ago.
A glimmer of the ‘joker’ Ibra-
him, I had heard so much about
appeared as the visit progressed. He
mocked his sisters shoes. Through
tears there were smiles as she told
him to stop. A normal sibling inter-
action in a very abnormal setting.
It was hard to listen to this young
man talk about his depression, how
he spent days trying to remem-
ber school lessons to try to keep
his mind active. He should be two
E
VERYONE I have spoken to says
Ibrahim Halawa is a charac-
ter: a joker who, like many teens,
always wanted to be famous. A sad
irony that fame has come to him in
such awful circumstances: Ibrahim
Halawa, along with other pro-
testers, faces the death penalty.
Human Rights NGOs Amnesty and
Reprieve have both investigated his
case and deem him a prisoner of con-
science. His trial has been postponed
repeatedly. He is not permitted to
testify in his defence. His lawyer is
not permitted to visit him in prison
to hear his version of events. When
the court sits, Ibrahim and his co-
defendants are kept behind a glass
wall and cannot hear the evidence
being presented against them.
Ibrahim travelled to Cairo in
to visit relatives. He was there when
the first democratically elected presi-
dent of Egypt, Mohamad Morsi, was
overthrown by the military. He joined
the thousands of others who pro-
tested. No matter what your opinion
of Morsi and the Muslim Brother-
hood, what unfolded on the streets of
Cairo was shocking. Over one thousand
protestors were left dead. Hundreds,
including Ibrahim, were imprisoned.
Frustrated at the lack of progress
in securing this Dublin teen’s
release, I travelled out to Cairo for
his tenth trial date. I was accom-
panied by his legal representative
in Ireland, Darragh Mackin.
We witnessed first-hand the arbi-
trary nature of these show trials.
Families of the defendants waited out-
side in the blistering heat; entry to
the proceedings is at the whim of the
judge. Only lawyers were permitted
into the hearing this time. The trial
was then summarily postponed until
the th October. Hopes were dashed
again, with devastation for the Halawa
family at the realisation that Ibrahim
would enter a third year of detention.
Once a week Ibrahim is permitted
a three-minute visit from a relative.
There is no physical contact allowed
during these visits. Darragh Mackin
and I accompanied Khadija, Ibrahim’s
sister, as she made the weekly trek
across Cairo to where the permits are
issued. It is then an hour-long drive into
the desert to Wadi Al Natroon prison.
Khadija explained how relatives with
permits are regularly turned away. At
Expedite appointment of ambassador to Egypt, and get medical
treatment for young Ibrahim. By Lynn Boylan
Witnessing
Halawa’s purgatory
INTERNATIONAL Halawa
I travelled out
to Cairo for his
tenth trial date
“
