Getting Ibrahim home

Ibrahim Halawa, an Irish citizen, is being held in a prison in Egypt as a prisoner of conscience. He was arrested in Egypt in August 2013 when he was aged only 17, and has been held in prison ever since. He is now 19. He has spent two years in prison. He did his leaving certificate in June 2013 and went to Egypt on holiday.

During these long 27 months he has been denied proper access to his lawyers, and he has been mistreated and tortured. His trial has been repeatedly postponed.

He is charged with very serious offences and – even though he was a child aged 17 when arrested - if convicted he could face the death penalty. His international legal team has seen the file and it contains no evidence supporting the serious charges against Ibrahim. Despite this, he remains in prison awaiting an unfair mass trial. He is due to stand trial with 493 other people. This mass trial has been postponed and adjourned repeatedly since August 2013.

Background – Ibrahim in Dublin

Ibrahim Halawa, the youngest in the family, was born in 1995 at Dublin’s Coombe Hospital. He went to Holy Rosary primary school in Ballycullen, had a close group of friends, and spent his spare time doing the sort of thing that every suburban teenager does: playing football, listening to music, sitting around on walls. At home, Ibrahim tended to leave the room when the news came on. He is not political at all.

Protests in Summer 2013

Ibrahim travelled to Egypt on holiday in summer 2013. He joined in protests that were ongoing at that time against the Egyptian military.

On 16 August 2013 tensions escalated in central Cairo, in the Ramisis area. Police opened fire on hundreds of protestors. Many protestors and bystanders took refuge in the al-Fateh mosque nearby. Ibrahim and 493 others were then arrested the following day at the mosque, and they are on trial for their alleged role in violence during protests. As Amnesty and other international organisations have noted, Ibrahim is a prisoner of conscience, detained for peacefully exercising his right of freedom of expression and assembly.

Mass Trial

He will now be tried in Egypt in a mass trial with 494 individuals. Such a trial cannot meet international fair trial standards. All defendants must be able to hear and challenge the prosecution case and present a defence, in person or through a lawyer. They must be able to call witnesses on their behalf and to examine witnesses against them.

The next hearing in this mass trial is due to take place on 15 December 2015, although it may be adjourned again.

In the case file, the prosecutor has failed to provide evidence that Ibrahim had used violence. The prosecutor has also depended entirely on police witnesses and reports, and investigations by intelligence services, which put a question mark over the credibility of evidence used against the defendants. Most of the over 100 witnesses due to be called in the trial are police officers or government officials.

Torture and Ill Treatment

Ibrahim was shot in his hand when the security forces stormed the building, but was not given access to medical care for his injury, and the only treatment he received was from a cellmate who happened to be a doctor.

Ibrahim has been tortured. In a letter to our family smuggled from prison, Ibrahim describes the ‘experimental torture’ carried out in the jail in which he’s imprisoned.

This torture, according to a caseworker from Reprieve (a human rights organisation) includes being strapped naked in crucifix positions in the prison halls, and water electrocution, while Ibrahim himself has been subject to repeat beatings with rubber bars.

In the letter Ibrahim speaks of the corruption of the Egyptian judicial system, and says that being part of a mass trial will never grant him his freedom. Instead, he says he is merely “waiting in a queue for my turn on a death rope”.

What's next

Our family in Ireland have instructed international law experts KRW Law LLP in Belfast and Doughty Street Chambers in London. They are working on different aspects of this case.

We are also being supported by Amnesty International Ireland and Reprieve in London.

Ibrahim's solicitors outside prison with Irish MP

What are we raising funds to do?

Costs in defending this case across two continents have become insurmountable for one family alone. Our international lawyers are acting pro bono (free of charge) but costs of travel, paying interpreters and other expenses are mounting.

Every penny we raise will help the legal fight to bring Ibrahim home. We need to raise as much as possible, but the minimum target we have set is £3,000. This would cover the cost of Ibrahim’s solicitor travelling to Egypt (flights and accommodation); travel expenses for meetings in Brussels and Dublin with the Irish Government, Department of Foreign Affairs, TDs, Senators and MEPs; and translation expenses.

As with all CrowdJustice cases, funds raised go directly to the legal team's client account.

Bring Ibrahim Home

The Irish government has called for his immediate release. Members of the European Parliament have called for his release. Ibrahim needs your help. Please support our CrowdJustice campaign.

About the claimant

Free Ibrahim Campaign – we are a group of friends and family of Ibrahim.

Fast facts

## Name of case Al Sagh case ## What's at stake Bringing Ibrahim home ## Legal team My Solicitors are KRW LAW LLP (Belfast) and the barristers are Caoilfhionn Gallagher, Mark Wassouf and Katie O'Byrne of Doughty Street Chambers.