The Department of Foreign Affairs said both it and the Irish embassy in Cairo remain “focused” on supporting the stricken Ibrahim Halawa so that he can return home as soon as possible.
The Irish Times reported on Thursday October 12 how they recieved confirmation from the Department of Foreign Affaires that the Irish consulate will visit the Dubliner from Firhouse, most probably this weekend.
Mr. Halawa has endured four year in jail. The then 17-year-old teenager was arrested along with three of his sisters – Somaia, Fatima and Omaima – on August 17th, 2013 and hundreds more at a grand mosque in Cairo during protests against the ousting of former president Mohamed Morsi.
His three sister’s were released but Ibrahim’s case was delayed 28 times before his legal team were permitted to launch a defence amid a mass trial of 494.
Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD has urged the government to step up its diplomatic efforts to secure the release of Ibrahim Halawa.
Gerry Adams said:
“It is 23 days since Ibrahim Halawa and his sisters were acquitted by a court in Egypt. Ibrahim Halawa has now spent over four years in prison.
“The conditions under which he has been held have caused Ibrahim serious health issues.
“I am calling on the government to immediately step up its diplomatic efforts to secure the speedy release of Ibrahim Halawa and return him to his family in Dublin.”
His sister Fatima says he is very frustrated:
“It is very tough at this point because he thought at this stage he was going to be home – he has been acquitted, so finally he would be released but he is not even out of prison yet; he is still within the prison walls,”.
“He was saying these two weeks have been way harder than the past four years in terms of having to wait and actually being released.”
Following his acquittal, the Government said it was working to get him home “as soon as possible” and expected him to be released from custody “without delay.”
