SINN Féin’s Dublin MEP, Lynn Boylan, has welcomed an announcement that the UN Special Procedures have contacted the Egyptian Government to express their concerns at the detention of Ibrahim Halawa.
The Irish teen, from Firhouse, was 17 when he was arrested for taking part in a protest in Cairo.
He has now spent almost three years behind bars without trial or due process. He is being tried as part of a mass trial of almost 500 people and his case has been adjourned 13 times.
“My understanding is that following a submission made last July on behalf of Ibrahim Halawa to the UN Special Rapporteurs on Torture, Counter Terrorism and Human Rights and the Working Group on arbitrary detention, the UN Special Procedures have felt it necessary to make this intervention,” Ms Boylan said.
“This intervention by the United Nations is very significant and adds to the growing number of voices including the European Parliament that have called for Ibrahim’s immediate release on the basis that his ongoing detention is a violation of his human rights.”
Last week the elected deputies for Dublin South West, Ibrahim’s home constituency, called for the immediate and unconditional release of the Irish teen.
They also urged Dáil deputies to support Ibrahim and to ensure that his release is a priority for the next Government.
“We ask the Dáil to follow the example of the European Parliament and to pass a cross-party motion of support for Ibrahim and to seek his release as a matter of urgency,” the group of TDs said in a statement.