Pat Breen TD has been granted approval to travel to Egypt to visit Ibrahim Halawa in prison after initial plans for a delegation to make the trip were rejected.
Arrangements are now being made for the Fine Gael TD for West Clare and chair of the Oireachtas foreign affairs committee, to visit the Irish teenager. The 19–year–old from Tallaght has been held in Egypt for more than 700 days after he was arrested during a protest at a mosque in Cairo in 2013.
Halawa’s case was again postponed in June, and his next court date is this coming Sunday, 2 August.
Breen told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that his legal team in Cairo, suggest the charges that he will face are probably lesser charges than the serious charges mentioned at first. However “The situation there is very fragile.”
The Mr Breen said the Department of Foreign Affairs is working with Egyptian authorities to arrange for his travel to Egypt, where he will be allowed to meet with Halawa once accompanied by an official.
He added that Egyptian authorities are “anxious” for the meeting to take place.