Halawa torture claims being treated with ‘utmost seriousness’

Allegations that Ibrahim Halawa is facing torture on a daily basis in an Egyption prison are being treated with “utmost seriousness”, Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan has said.

The Department was responding after a letter written by the Irish citizen and smuggled out of Wadi Natrun prison north of Cairo claimed he had been tortured and was woken daily to the cries of other torture victims.

The letter also claims Mr Halawa removed his shirt at a meeting with Irish embassy officials to show them marks he had received in one such beating.

In a statement, Mr Flanagan said: “As would be the case for any Irish citizen imprisoned abroad, any suggestion of ill-treatment in this case would be treated with the utmost seriousness by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and would be raised urgently with the Egyptian authorities.”

A department spokeswoman was not able to immediately clarify if this meant Mr Halawa’s allegatons had already been be raised with the Egyptian authorities, or if there was a timeline for doing so.

Mr Flanagan’s statement said Mr Halawa been visited on over 50 occasions by embassy officials which was important in monitoring his welfare “ensuring that the embassy in Cairo is well placed to raise any concerns arising directly with the prison authorities”.

Mr Flanagan said prison authorities were aware of the Government’s “strong and sustained interest in the welfare of this citizen”.

The most recent visit to Mr Halawa was undertaken by the Ambassador, Damien Cole, earlier Sunday last, May 29th. Embassy staff are to also attend the next trial hearing which is scheduled for June 29th.

In the letter, Mr Halawa (20) described waking up to the daily sound of prisoners being tortured. He said he has been beaten, punched, slapped kicked and dragged and had seen other prisoners “cruxified” and hung from basketball hoops during his time in prison.

“They torture another prisoner and make you watch”, he said. In another section, the letter describes how prisoners are subjected to a torture known as “the sweeper”.

"You are made to lay on your stomach with a stick in the centre of your back. Your arms and legs are dragged back and tied to the stick and they make a convict move the stick up and down", the letter says. The text of the letter which appeared in The Times online has been replicated on social media.

Mr Halawa was arrested at a protest after he and his siblings spoke on stage at a rally organised by the Muslim Brotherhood.

An online video shows Mr Halawa saying he supported the protests in favour of Mohamed Morsi the ousted president. Mr Halawa was 17 years of age at the time.

Senator Mark Daly (Fianna Fáil) who has been vocal on Mr Halawa’s case was critical of Mr Flanagan who he said was not doing enough to support the Irish citizen.

He contrasted Mr Flanagan’s performance with that of the Australian government which had succeeded in achieving the release of journalist and correspondent Peter Greste “because the Australian Government demanded it”.

“The Taoiseach did not even have the correct information when he told the Dáil that Mr Halawa was not facing a possible death sentence. The attitude is softly softly, it is too soon to intervene before the trial. After that it will be to late to intervene. Softly softly is not doing much.”