Responding to the news of a further adjournment of the trial in Cairo of Ibrahim Halawa, Amnesty International today expressed its concern at the ongoing detention of the Irish teenager who is a Prisoner of Conscience. Following a hearing in Cairo the trial was further adjourned today until 3 June. An application for bail was also refused. Ibrahim Halawa and his three sisters were arrested on 18 August 2013 for taking part in a pro-democracy protest in Cairo. His sisters were released on bail after three months and allowed to return to Ireland. Ibrahim who was 17 years old at the time of his arrest, remains in prison and faces a lengthy sentence and possible death sentence if convicted of the charges laid against him. Ibrahim was a minor at the time of his arrest, under both International and Egyptian law. He was shot in the hand when security forces stormed the Al Fath mosque where he and his sisters had sought refuge from the violence which followed the military coup in August 2013. Ibrahim has never received proper medical treatment for this injury, and there are grave concerns about his treatment in prison.
Ibrahim Halawa is an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience. He has been detained solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. Colm O’Gorman, Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland said: “Today marks Ibrahim’s 616th day in an Egyptian prison on cut and paste charges despite the fact that there is no evidence connecting him to any crime. Amnesty International observers were on the ground during the violence that forced Ibrahim and his sisters to seek refuge in the back of the Al Fath mosque. We know that it is simply not possible for them to have committed many of the crimes that they have been charged with. We have also examined the case file. There is absolutely no evidence linking Ibrahim to any of these crimes. He faces ‘cut and paste’ charges, in a mass trial process that meets none of the standards of a fair trial”. “We again call for his immediate and unconditional release. He must be allowed to return home to his family in Ireland so that he can resume his life, and his studies.”