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Updated 4pm
Amnesty Ireland / TwitterIbrahim Halawa's next trial hearing is due today #FreeIbrahim pic.twitter.com/a3ftjkUQ3k
— Amnesty Ireland (@AmnestyIreland) April 26, 2015
A BAIL APPLICATION for Dubliner Ibrahim Halawa in Cairo has been refused and yet again his trial has been adjourned.
Halawa was due to appear in court today – more than a year-and-a-half after he was detained for taking part in a protest in the Egyptian capital. His trial has been postponed five times today, once again, it has been adjourned, this time until 6 June.
The Tallaght man has been held in Egypt since August 2013 after he was arrested at a mosque during a march protesting the ousting of former president Mohammed Morsi.
Speaking today after the bail application was refused, Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan said he was disappointed, as the application had been supported by the Irish government.
“Our objectives in this case remain clear – to see this young Irish citizen released by the Egyptian authorities, and to provide consular support while he remains in detention.
“With the Taoiseach’s full support, I remain committed to taking all appropriate action in pursuit of our two objectives towards achieving a positive outcome for this young Irishman and his family.”
The minister said he will meet tomorrow with Egyptian Foreign Minister Shoukry in New York.
Halawa’s sisters have been campaigning for his release – and his sister Fatima recently reported that her brother has been moved to a death penalty cell.
He has been designated a ‘prisoner of conscience’ by Amnesty International – and the human rights group has warned that he could face the death penalty if convicted.
Halawa’s sisters and opposition politicians have called on the Taoiseach to directly intervene in the situation, saying that after 600 days it was time for him to put pressure on Egyptian authorities.
Earlier this month, a spokesperson for Enda Kenny said he was “across the situation and concerned” and that he was being kept up to date on the case by Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan.
Former Justice Minister Alan Shatter has also thrown his support behind the Halawa sisters’ campaign to have their brother released.
“We have very good diplomatic relations with Egypt,” Shatter observed during a Late Late Show interview last month, adding:
I think now this has reached a point where we should question the nature of our diplomatic relations, if this continues on indefinitely.
Halawa is facing charges of murder, attempted murder and participating in an illegal protest.
Read: Trial postponed for fifth time as Ibrahim pleads ‘They’re killing me here, they’re torturing me’
Read: ‘If we don’t do anything now, Ibrahim will die’
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Maybe if the guards spent a little less time hanging around water meter installations they would have been able to free these poor slaves.
So you support assaults on water meter installers?
Stop the installations and have a democratic vote on it
Gards do a good job keeping law and order with little resources. They are told to go to protect water meter installations by their superiors who are only interested in protecting their elites buddies no point in blaming the guy on the beat. The problem is when the gards do catch a bad guy / human traffickers / drug dealers etc. Our court of laws are to lenient and often people for serious crimes walk away with a suspended sentence….
There’s also the issue of the lad doing the meter installation us only doing his job so he can pay his bills too.
Guards are the mobile revenue commissioners of the state
Nope. Just stop Protecting DOB’s interests is all…
I do not blame the guys on the beat they do an incredible job working om the front line and have been used to police politically since the start of the water mess. When I see images of twenty guards around a water meter installer and then read stories like this you have to ask how many of these slaves in our country could be free if similar resource levels were put into finding the gangs responsible for this as opposed to being used to politically police those who opposed the sale of our greatest resource our water. Hot bank for the record I am against violence of any type.
Oh that’s ok then Jane. Just doing my job.. No bloody excuse..
Excuse for what? They don’t need an excuse. They’re doing their job for mediocre pay. Do you think the lads down shoveling out the dirt are getting rich on the back of it? If you want to protest go up to GMC and protest there (they are the ones making money), stop the delivery of meters, stop the meters from leaving their depot.
Oh I have protested Jane. What have you done? Nothing but keyboard warrior..
They won’t stop the metering. The water supply will have to meet a standard where every household in Ireland will be able to drink it straight from the tap and not boil it. The delusional mob that think they can turn the clock back to the good old days of carrying s bucket to the well will have to get a few slaves to carry the buckets for free for them.
But you did blame the guys on the beat Brian Boru
Not at all hotbank I blame the people that created the situation those elected to lead, insinuating anything other is just lying.
But as a card carrying member of a particular party I can appreciate that honesty is not a virtue you respect and you would rather spin it and lie that it is about water conservation as opposed to making billions from a massive scam.
La la stuff T, we all know we pay for water through general taxation.
That is why we have taxation to provide services to the citizens of the country. If there are no services then there is no need for taxation. I want to see my tax used to pay for services not squandered on gambling debts.
They water meter installers have no mandate
If they’re not wanted at a house they should piss off!!!
But it is not about water quality. It is about selling it off to the lowest bidder. If it was about quality there would be no question about enshrining it in constitution and then people would happily pay.
So Sweden gets called out in this article got the number of children that have gone missing, presumed into slavery there, and we want to follow their model for eliminating sex trafficking.
Makes sense.
Must be the sun!! The headline is about 800 in slave labour in Ireland but is only mentioned in the first couple of sentences! Then the usual suspects start a row about the installation of water meters!!!!
If it is known that approximately 800 people are in slave conditions in Ireland then why the heck are the appropriate authorities not all over this to stop it!!
Only 800 on jobsbridge !!!
So all the thousands of Irish who were shipped to the Americas during the Atlantic slave trade were ‘indentured servants’ but these others are ‘modern slaves’.
Sounds like the old indentured servitude is just a way to whitewash history then.
Can’t wait till the blueshirts come online justifying this…
There are probably an awful lot more when you consider unsatisfactory forced living conditions people can’t get out of due to incompetent gov imposed austerity.
What, only 800 in labour slavery! I guess zero hour contracts don’t count as labour slavery in this survey?
Any man who’s married is technically working as a slave…
what about all the people on jobbridge
my sentiments too.
However the figures are ridiculous low.
https://youtu.be/myvyGl6yo64
Get out and work for the min wage and make your boss rich
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