Shatter calls for formal request for release of Ibrahim Halawa

A call has been made for Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan to formally request the release from Egyptian prison of Irish citizen Ibrahim Halawa.

Former minister for justice Alan Shatter said it was time for a “new initiative” and that the State should follow the action of the Australian government, which formally sought and succeeded in securing the release of its citizen, Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste.

Mr Shatter said new laws in Egypt had facilitated the Australian approach and Ireland should act in a similar fashion.

Mr Flanagan, however, said: “I am asking people to accept that Ireland is unable to interfere in the judicial process of another country, but we will continue raising our concerns”.

The Egyptian president had issued a decree on foreign nationals and the Minister was aware of the deportation of Mr Greste to Australia, but “there are few, if any, details available as to the exact scope and practical operation of the presidential decree”.

Mr Flanagan later told Fine Gael Senator Cait Keane, who raised the issue in the Upper House, that “in particular it is unclear what the decree may mean in practice for those whom Egypt regards as dual nationals, as is the case for Ibrahim Halawa”.

Mr Greste shared a cell for a time with the 19-year-old, who was imprisoned in August 2013 with his three sisters after a demonstration demanding the reinstatement of ousted president Mohamed Morsi.

Mr Halawa’s sisters were released on bail after a month but Mr Halawa remains in detention. His trial has been postponed four times.

Mr Shatter told the Dáil: “I am asking the Minister for Foreign Affairs to take a new initiative, that is, to request formally of the Egyptian government and the Egyptian president that Ibrahim be released.”

Mr Shatter, in whose Dublin South constituency the Halawa family lives, said it “is normally the approach of this State to stand back and allow the law to take its course in other states with which we have good relations”.

He said Ireland and Egypt were friends but “I believe matters have reached a state where a new initiative is required”.

Mass trial

The former minister said Mr Halawa was involved in a mass trial with a myriad of charges brought against him and about 490 other individuals. “No court system anywhere in the world could ensure the charges brought before it in such circumstances are dealt with in a manner that makes sure each individual before the court gets justice and protects his or her individual human rights.”

Mr Shatter said Mr Halawa should not be treated differently from his sisters whom the Egyptian authorities saw fit to release.

“If it was appropriate to release them, and it was, then it is appropriate to release him.”

He was concerned the teenager had been mistreated in prison, and the Fine Gael TD said he was a “young man to whom great damage can be done by his continued incarceration”.

Mr Flanagan said that Ireland could not interfere in the judicial process of another country, but that they would continue raising the issue. Mr Flanagan said he had this morning met members of Mr Halawa’s family and outlined the actions his department was taking to “progress the matter”.

He said the teenager had received 34 consular visits from Irish embassy staff, including ambassador Isolde Moylan. Mr Flanagan had spoken to Egypt’s foreign minister Sameh Shoukry on taking up office and had since spoken to him a number of times. There had been ongoing contact with Egyptian authorities including the foreign ministry, the justice ministry and the office of the prosecutor-general.

The Minister said he had also taken up the issue with the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini.

Senator Keane said the most the teenager could be accused of was “being in the wrong place at the wrong time”.