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FINE GAEL TD Alan Shatter is set to table a motion calling for the release of Ibrahim Halawa from his imprisonment in Egypt.
The former justice minister’s prospective move is being widely supported by TDs from across Leinster House, with some 52 deputies from different parties signing up to add their official endorsement to the motion.
Ibrahim Halawa has been detained in Egypt for the past 30 months, along with 493 other prisoners.
The then 17-year-old’s detention happened in the aftermath of Egyptian president Abdul Fattah el-Sisi seizing power in July 2013 amid a crackdown on protests.
To date, Halawa’s mass trial has been postponed on 12 occasions, with the next hearing slated for 6 March this year in Cairo.
In recent months allegations have emerged from Halawa himself that “experimental torture” is being conducted in his prison, and also that he has engaged in a hunger-strike.
High-profile
Some of the high-profile TDs who have added their name to Shatter’s motion are: independent Clare Daly, Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty, Gerry Adams, Fine Gael’s Eoghan Murphy, Labour’s Emmett Stagg, and Shatter’s one-time nemesis within the Dáil independent Mick Wallace.
Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan described the motion as being “timely” today.
“I am delighted that senior politicians from government and opposition parties have put political differences aside in the interests of human rights,” she said.
Mr Shatter’s timely motion comes as Ibrahim faces his 900th day in prison on Sunday.
Shatter, who is seeking re-election in Dublin Rathdown, is hoping to debate the motion next week, or, assuming that the Dáil is dissolved in anticipation of the coming election, within the early days of the next administration.
The motion:
No certainty
“There is no certainty that the trial (of Ibrahim Halawa) will take place on its next scheduled date of 6 March 2016 and together with his family and others I have very major concerns as to how a trial can properly proceed with such a large number of defendants before the court,” Shatter said in a statement.
In consultation with Ibrahim’s family, I initiated steps for the tabling of a Dáil Motion to enable members of Dáil Eireann record our concern about his circumstances and seek his release.
“I am very grateful to colleagues on all sides of the House who are supportive of this initiative,” he added.
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A very interesting read!
Excellent, interesting article.
Have you been to the outskirts of Corey lately? Yolanda is alive and well and still spoken.
Gorey, not Corey. And I’m not joking either. The author might find it interesting to visit some people there. Look for French sounding names in the phone book.
Gorey, not Corey. And I’m not joking either. The author might find it interesting to visit some people there. Look for French sounding names in the phone book.
RTE had a documentary on Yola a couple of years ago, here’s the link http://www.rte.ie/radio1/doconone/radio-documentary-yola-language-wexford.html
Hi michael i’m interested in your comment that yola is still spoken in gorey as I know a group of our settlers spoke a sub dialect in that area, are you certain it is still spoken there?
Are you kidding. Their word for “Women” was “Moans”?? I can’t see that re-entering common parlance
You mean thats a queern interesting read.
Ah sure that’s deadly deash..
Well yola, which I originally read as YOLO, reads like Afrikaans.
G’wan ya Baldoon!
It reads nowhere near Afrikaans. Ek weet omdat ek praat en lees dit. .
Radio 1 made a very good documentary on Yola. As far as I know it’s one of the Curious Ear documentaries and it’s available on the Rte website
Explains the odd way of saying words in wexford
especially the emphasis on the last word which is a point of pride in the areas south of wexford town
I still find it hard to spell many words because the idosyncratic way words are pronunced in the region
I see you were named in Yola…
Fascinating! Would love to hear more about Fingalian!!
Here ya go. Thought there would be more Norse in it given the Viking influence but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Just shows you how much the home countries of the British Isles are intertwined with each other.
Some of the Yola words look familiar – ‘truckle’ and ‘besom’ for example. A besom was a brush and a truckle was a small bed as far as I can recall. Fascinating dialects and a great article from Know Thy Place !
Fingallian … still exists today im sure … ma wheres me fcking dole card
sure tis a language like ulster scots is a language
Yola is seemingly very much alive with the youths of today. Oh, sorry, that’s YOLO….
Really interesting read!!
Surely we require compulsory education of our young in these ancient languages in case they out?
Old English for loyalists is priques
I’ve been studying Dutch for more than a year now and it is remarkable to pick out some of the similarities in Yola.
Frisian is worth a quick glance for comparison. Don’t think is spoken any longer but reads like a halfway tongue between Nederlands and English.
http://homepage.eircom.net/~yolawexford/aboutyola.htm
link to yola park in wexford
high quality acurate map there
That song about the hurling match just sounded beautiful…
Yola sounds very similar to the west country dialect of England, heard in Somerset and Devon.
I grew up in Fingal. Many of the people there were of Norse descent, and proud of it. I would hope that there would be an article on old Fingallian.
Luro ….way to go!
Sounds like Welsh to me
hey everybody I am a native of forth and bargy and can understand yola well. I have an old document written in yola which I translated thats on my yola language facebook page if anyone wants to have a look. The document states that the language was brought over by settlers from heege in west friesland who intermingled with settlers from hogham in kent and with settlers from somerset. It was written by a native yola speaker from the Kilrane area of co. Wexford in the 1800′s just before the language was replaced with modern English.
hey everybody I am a native of forth and bargy and can speak, write and read yola. I have an old document written in yola which I translated thats on my yola language facebook page if anyone wants to have a look. The document states that the language was brought over by settlers from heege in west friesland who intermingled with settlers from hogham in kent and with settlers from somerset. It was written by a native yola speaker from the Kilrane area of co. Wexford in the 1800′s just before the language was replaced with modern English.
Fow y’arthe Ivery óán? yith unnerstóáne thee dhicke, hav óa lúke adh mee yólaw taulké paage
hi if you like yola have a look at my facebook yola language page, theres plenty of rare poems and documents in yola.. if you have any yola yourself talk in yola as I can speak it too.. thanks
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Yola-Language/1582035255363825
i’ve also made a yola language dictionary and I am starting a memrise course if anyone wants to learn the language
have your say