An Irish teenager has been tortured and left to rot in a Cairo jail despite the diplomatic efforts of the Dublin government.
Ibrahim Halawa’s family now fear the 18-year-old will be executed after his arrest ten months ago at a Muslim Brotherhood demonstration.
The Irish Sun reports that Egyptian authorities have ignored Ireland’s diplomatic attempts to get Halawa released from jail.
He has been incarcerated for almost 300 days and his family fear he will be put to death. They have also told the paper that he has ‘beaten and tortured’.
Ibrahim was with three of his sisters when they were arrested but the girls have since been freed.
His sister Somaia told the Irish Sun: “Ibrahim is experiencing a horrific mental and physical torture within prison and is denied medical help.”
Irish government Minister Joe Costello sought a meeting with the Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister Nabil Fahmy during April’s EU-Africa Summit in Brussels.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said the Egyptians could not ‘facilitate’ a meeting.
Ireland’s Foreign Affairs Minister Eamon Gilmore then phoned Minister Fahmy about Ibrahim on November 11 and December 23, 2013.
A letter from Gilmore assuring that Ibrahim would return at once to Ireland if released was handed to the Egyptians as far back as January 9.
The Irish Sun adds that the then Justice Minister Alan Shatter also wrote to his counterpart in Egypt in March and repeated the Government’s ‘concerns’ at the detention.
Gilmore has also been working with the EU High Representative Catherine Ashton.
She confirmed: “The EU is both acutely aware of, and closely monitoring, Ibrahim’s situation.”
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