An Irish student locked up in Egypt for more than a year has had his trial postponed for the third time. It will now take place in January of 2015. Ibrahim Halawa (19) has previously detailed the shocking abuse he has endured in handwritten letters he penned from his Cairo cell to well–wishers who have supported him since he was detained in August of 2013.
Friends and family of Mr Halawa staged a vigil outside the Egyptian embassy in Dublin on Saturday afternoon (Dec 13) to mark his 19th birthday. He and his sisters were arrested and charged with protesting in Ramsis, Cairo, in August 2013 where at least 97 people died. His sisters Somaia (28), Fatima (23) and Omaima (21) were detained for three months before being released and returned to Ireland.
Mr Halawa is charged with murder, attempted murder and destruction of public property during an attack on a police station in August 2013. He was among nearly 500 people arrested at Cairo’s Al–Fath mosque following protests against the ousting of former Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi last year. Mr Halawa and his 493 co–accused will now go on trial on January 6th.
This is the third time the proceedings have been postponed due to the difficulty of processing such a large number of accused, who should be simultaneously present in the cages that serve as the dock in Egyptian courts. It was expected that at least preliminary proceedings would go forward.
The Irish Times spoke to Khaled Mansour, executive director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, who told them that this is precisely one of the issues they take up.
“[AS] trials are postponed for months, even a year,” because the security forces warn against moving prisoners during such times. Consequently, “pretrial detention is turned into a punitive measure,” he said.
“We are worried,” he continued, that the “justice system is becoming selective” with some “cases being reviewed within a month” and others dragging on.
You can follow the campaigns to free Ibrahim on the Amnesty Ireland campaign page and this Facebook group.