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IBRAHIM HALAWA HAS told a delegation of Irish politicians who visited him today in a Cairo prison that he wants to return home to Dublin.
Halawa has been jailed without trial in Egypt for almost three-and-a-half years after 17 different court dates arrived before being postponed.
An Oireachtas delegation travelled to Egypt yesterday as part of efforts to secure his release and today they met the 21-year-old at a high security prison about 90 mins drive outside of the capital Cairo.
Green Party leader Eamon Ryan TD was among those who met Halawa today and said that he seemed strong and “very forthright” in his desire to return home.
“First of all, it was very stressful situation,” Ryan told TheJournal.ie.
There was about 20 of us in the room, most of us prison authorities and the delegation. I thought he was strong and very brave and forthright about what he wanted, which is his release and his return home as soon as possible.
“He set out a whole range of basic concerns. The basic fact that he is detained in a high security prison as someone who hasn’t been convicted of anything, As someone who has been brought to court 17 times without any trial being held.”
Paul Murphy / TwitterIbrahim explained his prison conditions to us: 10 to a cell, extremely cramped, 'bed' only a few cm off the floor, one toilet. #FreeIbrahim
— Paul Murphy 🏳️⚧️ (@paulmurphy_TD) January 10, 2017
Paul Murphy / TwitterIbrahim spoke to us about being in solitary confinement in a tiny cell with two others as punishment when he refused visits. #FreeIbrahim
— Paul Murphy 🏳️⚧️ (@paulmurphy_TD) January 10, 2017
“He was engaged in my mind in a political protest, which is not a crime, but he has now spent three-and-a-half years almost in those very intense prison environments,” Ryan said, adding that Halawa himself sees it this way:
He was absolutely clear that he is not a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, that he was just expressing an opinion like many other people at the time and was just unlucky to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Halawa was arrested and detained at a demonstration in Cairo in August 2013 held in support of the Muslim Brotherhood which had been ousted from power by the Egyptian military.
He is charged with attempted murder but no evidence has ever been presented in his case. Amnesty International has also said it has seen no evidence against him.
Ryan said that Halawa spoke of his “utter frustration” at being brought to court 17 times and being told he is going to hear evidence against him before his trial is cancelled and he is returned to prison.
Halawa has been charged alongside 494 other defendants,
“What I was amazed by how strong he was in very difficult circumstances, just brave and forthright in what he wanted given the circumstances,” Ryan said.
The Green Party leader said that the politicians visiting him all discouraged him from engaging in further hunger strikes after he had previously taken that action.
Eamon Ryan / TwitterWe had a remarkable visit to high security prison where Ibrahim Halawa is held. A very brave young man. #freeibrahim pic.twitter.com/JgNllwntF3
— Eamon Ryan (@EamonRyan) January 10, 2017
A total of eight Irish politicians from all the major parties are part of the delegation that have travelled to Egypt to see Halawa. Tomorrow they will meet with Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah El Sissi.
Ryan said that their dealings with Egyptian authorities have so far been “formal, diplomatic and respectful” and “not in any way confrontational”.
The Irish government has formally requested that Halawa be released by presidential decree and this will be discussed at tomorrow’s meeting
“I think that will be the easiest and quickest way to resolve the problem,” Ryan said.
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Can we get a full list of the TDs that thought it right to spend tax-payer’s money on an all-expenses paid trip to Egypt?
Open borders is a troll who doesn’t believe what he says. He just likes to wind people up. Ignore him. Don’t reply to any of his comments no matter how provocative (they’re meant to be). Just down thumb and move on.
Full list from the Independent:
Paul Murphy, AAA-PBP
Eamon Ryan, Green Party
Brendan Howlin, Labour
Darragh O’Brien, Fianna Fáil
Eoin Ó Broin, Sinn Féin
Colm Brophy, Fine Gael
Noel Grealish, Independent
Agreed Awkward Seal. He / she just lands into every new article to post utter nonsense and people still rise to it.
Did Eamon Ryan travel by hot air balloon I wonder.
8 TD’s flying over there is an abuse of tax payers money !
If it was someone in your family in that situation would you be asking about tax payers expenses, no you wouldnt!
@OpenBorders:
Mmm, so the Halawas openly admit that they are Islamists and purposefully joined the protest. How nice!
Thanks for the info, buddy!
@Shane Corry: Quite a cross-section of Irish politics. From the open-borders supporting Paul Murphy to Fine Gael.
The lad was born in the Coombe in Dublin makes him Irish, more than I can say for most of the fake trolls commenting.
It just shows there’s no actual centre right party in this country, they are all just populist band wagoners.
@Shane Corry: Of course they will all be the best of buddies now that the famous 8 have had there little taxpayer funded holiday together . They might even be sharing rooms on their little trip. Lets just call it a(Team Building) exercise .
@OpenBorders:
It can’t be xenophobia because, as you constantly say, Ibrahim is Irish.
I would…. if any of my family were stupid enough to join the MB and stick he’s nose in another countries issues! ! I’d disown them!!
@Naberius: And you constantly say he’s Egyptian, thanks for proving my point little fella!!
@OpenBorders:
I don’t constantly say he’s Egyptian! He’s Irish and Egyptian, at least insofar as citizenship goes!
@jane: The benefit of that is that as the wind finally shifts here the politicians will follow suit. There’s just always a bit of lag time for Ireland to catch up with the bad ideas of the rest of the world, discover the consequences again for ourselves, then change our minds. Only after all that happens do the politicians get in line.
@paulo I doubt you’d see many other Irish people travelling to Egypt I’m support of the Muslim brotherhood
@debco: You support the Muslim Brotherhood?
Comments about to close. Continue on http://www.coffeebreak.ie afterwards? See you there.
@Hugh Mannatee: You’re the only person over there Hugh Mannatee, LOL!
He is a hot air balloon
@ OpenBorders: From acorns grow oak trees.
@Awkward Seal:
I’m not a troll. I have a tiny penis and no life, it’s not my fault.
Hugh , did you set it up yourself?
@Hugh Mannatee: Good work. It won’t let me log in with twitter though. Says internal server error.
@OpenBorders: He is an Egyptian citizen and refered to himself as an Egyptian abroad.
Yet you claim he’s not an Egyptian?
If only the TDs spent more time dealing with genuine homelessness, drug addiction, health service crisis and heaven forbid governing Ireland instead we get half wits heading off at the drop of a hat to another country to represent an Egyptian who didnt recognise them as his representatives up to his arrest… balloons,hopefully they get caught up in something and the Egyptian government hold onto them as well
They should have been jailed in Egypt also no loss wasters !
@Shane Corry: Good man Shane, cross-party group so!
That’s only 7. Journal says there were 8 . One would have been too many
Here we go again
Fair play to all involved.
The torture and internment of an Irish citizen by a foreign dictatorship should never be tolerated.
@Diarmuid: He’s an Egyptian citizen in an Egyptian jail. Absolutely not our problem.
@Sean O’Connor: Go onto Paul Murphy’s Facebook page and you will see the contrasting accounts of why he was there. They range from “He was there on holiday and just got caught up in the whole thing”, to “He was there to peacefully protest”. There was one particularly great comment that said “the Muslim Brotherhood were a legitimate political party, with social roots in Egypt .”
Sean he is an Irish citizen just like you , if he was white and Christian would you have the same views ?
@Les Behan:
It is – The Muslim Brotherhood is an Islamic organisation that was founded in Ismailia, Egypt by Hassan al-Banna in March 1928 as an Islamist religious, political, and social movement.
There are legitimate concerns with this fellow. However, he was born in Ireland. Has dual citizenship, nothing strange about that.
The Journal en masse want to play judge, jury while salivating about the executioner.
Somewhat hypocritical when complaining about abhorrent ideology.
@Mrs M: If he was a Christian he wouldn’t have been attending and addressing rallies for the Muslin Brotherhood, as they have peculiar habit of murdering Christians.
@Les Behan: There’s some serious insanity on the far left and Paul Murphy is a classic example.
And all this stuff about his citizenship and passport and whatnot – in a sane society supporting the Muslim Brotherhood would be recognized as treason if one is a citizen and levying war against the state if not. Now that would be an interesting trial to see.
All mainstream interpretations of sharia conflict with fundamental human rights and therefore with the Irish constitution and the governments formed under it. The Muslim Brotherhood along with all jihadists wish to create a global caliphate ruled by sharia. We are a party to an asymmetric religious war whether we like it or not.
Violent jihadists “attempt… by force of arms or other violent means to overthrow the organs of government”. That’s their ultimate goal. Non-violent ones are “concerned in or inciting or conspiring with” the violent ones.
“WHEREAS it is provided by Article 39 of the Constitution that treason shall consist only in levying war against the State, on assisting any State or person or inciting or conspiring with any person to levy war against the State, or attempting by force of arms or other violent means to overthrow the organs of government, established by the Constitution, or taking part or being concerned in or inciting or conspiring with any person to make or to take part or be concerned in any such attempt:”
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1939/act/10/enacted/en/html
@Marlowemallow:
Not sure anyone is supporting the Muslim Brotherhood in Ireland. Irish constitution is irrelevant. In the West, we play innocent until proven guilty that is how a ‘civilised culture works’ while, again, talking about regressed cultures.
People have valid concerns with fundamentalism (of all flavours) however, for society to progress requires rules of engagement. Not reactions built from hate, fear, and brushes too wide.
@Pádraig Ó Raghaill: “It is – The Muslim Brotherhood is an Islamic organisation that was founded in Ismailia, Egypt by Hassan al-Banna in March 1928 as an Islamist religious, political, and social movement.”
You mean this Hassan al – Banna?
“It is a duty incumbent on every Muslim to struggle towards the aim of making every people Muslim and the whole world Islamic, so that the banner of Islam can flutter over the earth and the call of the Muezzin can resound in all the corners of the world: God is greatest [Allahu akbar]! This is not parochialism, nor is it racial arrogance or usurpation of land.” It is the nature of Islam to dominate, not to be dominated, to impose its law on all nations and to extend its power to the entire planet.”
@Pádraig Ó Raghaill: Just how ‘not sure’ are you that anyone is supporting the muslim brotherhood in Ireland? A little bit not sure or very not sure or what? And have you been hiding under a rock for the past couple of decades in order to cultivate that level of uncertainty?
Mrs M., if he was a white christian addressing the crowd at a neo-nazi or kkk rally I guarantee he would be equally slated.
@Mike: Some evidence please for the Muslim Brotherhood murdering Christians? Also some evidence please of when Christians stopped murdering muslims?
@Avina Laaf: Was he addressing a crowd? I didn’t know that. Did you know that the Muslim Brotherhood, whatever you may think of them, were democratically elected? And subsequently overthrown in a military coup? And would you not be out ‘slating’ the militarists who overthrew the democratically elected government?
@Marlowemallow:
Everybody is brothers and sisters cohabiting the same planet. Delusional ideology, imagines invisible borders, beliefs and structures. Progress is made not by forming barriers, but with understanding.
Finding successful societies and not repeating the recent past requires people share values. Institutions, even social identities. Cooperation comes from understanding the other. It does not mean we have to accept what is deemed as inappropriate, destructive, regressed. Collectively, norms become shared values, shared identities, help people form unison, increasing the social capital while helping to avoid the pitfuls, overcome differences of the other. Defining boundaries, the rules of engagement, helps to minimise mismatched cultural expectations. Cultural change, the hegemonic principals of culture take time to form stable groups, although that is the outcome of shared communities. We know sharing common space results in the spreading of these shared elements.
We find a progressive future, not in the vindication of the other but the understanding and defining the boundaries. Currently, our Governments show little understanding of the need to define boundaries, and it is that lack of understanding we find fundamentalist problems.
If you think fear and physical walls and imaginary walls will lead to a prosperous and safe future, I am afraid that is misguided, and history has and is showing that leads to one path, more unrest, more conflict. more instability and more violence.
@marlowemallow oh shut up
@Hugh Davison
You really need to bring yourself up to speed on this.
1) Yes, he was addressing the crowd from the stage at a muslim brotherhood rally. There is plenty of video evidence for this.
2) Yes, christians were killed by muslim brotherhood mobs. Again there is video evidence for this, and it has been widely acknowledged by various neutral human rights groups.
3) Yes, Morsi was democratically elected, but the first thing he did when he got into power was to start systematically dismantling the apparatus of democracy. He was well on his way to making himself perma-president. People saw what was happening and rose up to oust him before it was too late.
4) Nobody is under any illusions that the current regime are a bunch of angels either – pointing out the islamofascist leanings of the MB doesn’t automatically equate to supporting those that replaced it.
I agree 100% I am held in Gran Canary for the past 3 and a half years not charged I’m Irish nobody’s come to help me.
@Hugh Davison: @Marlowemallow has posted a link to a story on this comment section regarding the murder of Christians by Islamists in Egypt. It’s beyond doubt that Islamists were responsible, likely the Muslim Brotherhood. I find it grimly amusing that you can defent the Muslim Brotherhood publicly and without embarrassment.
Our political class are so out of touch with the people of this country they may as well be on the moon. They hail an Islamist who rejected his Irish citizenship as “strong and brave”, they send our navy to act as a ferry service for people traffickers, they import illegal economic migrants from safe first world countries at a cost of €275000 each and sneak hundreds more into a small small village where there is no support infrastructure. All the while they ignore the very real security concerns and the rise in criminality across Europe. And I haven’t even mentioned the indigenous problems we face. This is going to blow up in all our faces in a very real and possibly literal way.
You really have to be deluding yourself if you think that the journal has become some sort of hot bed of the alt-right. It’s the type of stuck-in-your-bubble thinking that led to people being shocked at brexit and Trump. It’s funny. In most walks of life these topics aren’t discussed as they’re a potential social minefield. Even in our traditional media. But online and anonymously people are free to express their views. On plenty of stories here you will find quite liberal views are the norm. But illegal immigration gets such a negative response as it’s simply not acknowledged as a problem by the people in power. Can you show me the website where these stories are greatly welcomed by the readers and commentators in such large numbers? This is neutral territory where ideas rise and fall on merit.
It’s a bit condescending to suggest people you disagree with are uneducated. When you say “Irish rape” what I think you’re trying to say is that Irish people rape too so pointing that out as a characteristic of these immigrants is disingenuous. I think that comparison is flawed if that’s what you’re saying. All you have to do is look at the events in Cologne last New Year’s eve when mass orchestrated sexual assaults took place. It’s not possible to compare Irish men to this. There are huge cultural differences between Europe and North Africa/Middle East. Women are treated very poorly in many of the countries these people are coming from. And much of that cultural difference comes from the Koran and the Hadith. That’s the irony of all this. These actions are defended by the extreme left because the perpetrators are brown. As a liberal who thinks everyone should be treated equally regardless of their skin colour I’m appalled. I won’t deny bigots exist but you’re lumping everyone who has reservations about illegal immigrant, the spread of radical Islam and who advocate for more practical ways to help refugees into the same category as white supremacists and nazis. Do you not see how flawed that is? All it does is shut down conversions.
@Awkward Seal: consider this, attempts were made to remove online video footage by whom? would it be hard to guess? even perhaps contacted google to remove. most of them were salvaged and republished by mark humphreys albeit one, the mysterious passport tear down. now, consider this, this person was issued with an emergency passport 3 months AFTER they were arrested, furthermore, the egyptian authorities stated they did not recognise the replacement but also never referred to having the original passport. why? do they know where it is or for that matter was? Considering the attempts to remove the video footage failed on most accounts, this all adds further to the truth that the infamous passport took place.
Also, don’t forget, he claimed to be an Egyptian citizen NOT and Irish one and living in Ireland. He has now claimed he’s not a member of the that brotherhood.
This has all the hallmarks yet again of dual citizenship, when its useful and needed they decide which side of the fence they’re on, hopping back and forth to see which grass is greener at any given time. Usually have difficulty in making up their minds. Unsettled. Unsure. Untruthful? Unreliable?
Go figure.
@Paudi Onail:
You are saying that ALL the videos were retrieved, but when they were looked at they clearly didn’t show any passport being destroyed so… HA! HA! That video must be missing!
Do you think it is possible that maybe that particular video never actually existed? There is absolutely no evidence that it did. No mention of it at the time. No discussion. No outrage. No stills from the footage. No copies of it. And when Marc Humphries ‘salvaged’ the videos there was clearly no footage to support the claim.
The original claim was made by a moron called ‘Michael’ in September 2014, more than a year after the supposed event.
Awkward Seal. . Very well said ..
@Coles: “most of them were salvaged” i repeat “most of them were salvaged” that is considering there may have been one more which i have submitted relative evidence to suggest. Nowhere do i say ALL. Typical out of control extreme liberal, telling lies, twisting words, cornered into submission like a screaming rat with nowhere to go but deny everything to the point they even forget what their beloved argument was.
We’ve had this conversation before Coles. It’s a logical fallacy on your part to claim that a particular video never existed because you haven’t personally seen it. As I said before, I have. Whether you believe me or not is neither here nor there to me – I really couldn’t care less as it doesn’t change anything.
I can’t say it was a passport being torn up – at the time I thought it was probably speech notes or similar. I do think that, rightly or wrongly, this particular video may well have been the origin of the passport claims though.
@Paudi Onail: I confess. I have dual citizenship, like many Irish people. It’s very convenient – not! I know some people who have triple citizenship, usually Israeli being the third. It’s a pain. But I assure you I am not unsettled, unsure, untruthful, unreliable. Go figure.
Awkward Seal, ‘political class’? Political, yes. Class? Very doubtful.
@Avina Laaf:
So despite you being one of the main spreaders of the passport story you have finally admit that you DIDN’T see any passport being torn up.
This is what you said in February 2015 with regards the BURNING of the passport:
“I’ve heard lots of people saying it, but I’m not sure when and if it happened. If it did though, its a disgrace that he’s now trying to get back into Ireland as an ‘Irish’ citizen.”
In June 2016 you even claimed to have posted a link on the Journal.ie to the video in 2014 showing the passport being destroyed.
“I’m referring to an entirely separate video which can no longer be accessed. I even linked to it in an early Halawa thread. Stop talking about stuff you clearly know nothing about – just because you haven’t seen the video in question doesn’t mean it never existed.
I’m not going to waste my time sifting through dozens of Journal threads to satisfy your skepticism over something I know to be true. Feel free to search through the threads yourself though – I even copied and pasted the link a second time a few weeks later,”
http://www.thejournal.ie/ibrahim-halawa-prison-2-2801482-Jun2016/
When repeatedly asked to provide a link (including by Marc Humphries), you failed to do so. Show us where you posted up this video and let us judge it for ourselves instead of feeding the morons and bigots. Time for you to stand up and do the decent thing.
Some day I hope you will be asked to explain this to a Judge.
@Coles:
“So despite you being one of the main spreaders of the passport story….”
That is just a lie and is a libellous comment in itself.
I have never claimed to have seen Halawa either burning or tearing up his passport – all I have said is that I have seen a video of him tearing an unidentifiable object up, and suggested that this video may have been the origin of all the passport stories (exactly as I said in my comment above).
As many of us who were following this story from the earliest stages know, several videos were initially accessible online but were subsequently taken down when the truth about the nature of the visit to Egypt began to emerge. I repeat, just because you haven’t personally seen them doesn’t mean they didn’t exist.
I’ve been back through various early Halawa threads and readily acknowledge that I’ve been unable to find a link I thought I’d posted to the video in question. This may well have been because it was part of one of many comment threads that were deleted by the Journal at the time, but I’m also man enough to acknowledge that it may have been one of the other Halawa videos I linked to.
Either way, it doesn’t change anything – I retain an open mind about whether he did or didn’t destroy his passport in some way but (much as you keep trying to misrepresent my stance on it) I can’t say I’ve seen conclusive evidence of it.
‘ solitary confinement in a tiny cell with two others’
WTF?
It’s like when he was on hunger strike. He only ate twice a day.
That is the calibre of the AAA for you.
@Jason Culligan: Calibre, always with the guns Jason.
@Alex Falcone you just made me laugh. How stupid is the gormless Mr Ryan?
Must be a world record for a hunger strike..keep the Egyptian out there..Where is his father in all This? The Clonskeagh mosque is very quiet as usual..
Open borders, i shouldnt bite but i will. Its because hes irish that most people cant understand why hed support the MB, Morsi and his attempt to implement. The goals of the MB and their attitude to Egyptian christians ( theyd actually suggested expelling them all) their attacks on churches and the murdering of many – are light years from my experience as an irishman. Why would he support this? Why say he was prepared to die for it? What aspect of being a dubliner has informed him that this is the right thing to do?
Theyd have voted for me after Mubarack. Literally millions of people revolted against Morsi. They had no wish to replace a western dictator with an islamic one. The army stepped in and demanded a compromise. Having seen the spread of militant radical islamism across the ME, its not hard to understand this. The sad irony in your post is that democracy and the tenets of the MB are strangers to eachother. See Gaza for details of radical islam getting voted in then cancelling democracy. Millions of Eygptians arent fools, they saw the writing on the wall.
@Charlie Wrex: ‘The army stepped in and demanded a compromise.’ Such normal, everyday stuff for an army to do!
Versus a potential civil war, Id say they were correct.
@OpenBorders: IP address
you should have used a proxy
@Gerard Hanley: I’m not looking for a boyfriend right now Gerard, but I’ll let you know if my situation changes, and I’m flattered, PMSL!
@Open Borders
People rose up to oust Morsi precisely because they saw democracy being crushed. The Egyptian people realised that if they didn’t act when they did, then democracy could disappear for a generation.
@Charlie Wrex: Gaza? Where the Israelis bombed hundreds of people to oblivion?
So ibrahim told you there was 10 to a cell? He told you about solitary confinement as punishment with two others? He told you he wasnt a member of MB? He told you he wanted to go back to his REAL home?
Ah jesus, why did he not tell us this before?
Do i look like i want to buy a fkn monorail?
So far this week : vulture funds screw this country aided by pols who screw the irish.
Zappone with 40 migrant adult/children at 280000E cost each.
Ni politics in shambles over cash for ash controversy.
And now irish politicians urinate down our backs and tell us we re sweating after a virtue signalling junket proclaiming an MB sympathiser is just like us.
How much more sh*+e are we expected to take from these inveterate leeches?
how can he be in solitary confinement with 2 others
@the truth:makes Paul Murphy look like he would swallow a brick.
@david a chancer that murphy a chancer
It could also be asked why such a brutal prison regime would bring him to hospital after he fainted, or give him pens and paper so he could write a letter about how brutally he was being treated (and then be good enough to pop down to the post office and post it for him).
I hope they keep him there. He is Egyptian after all
@OpenBorders:
Egyptian citizen, shitcanned in Egypt!
Naberius . Tariq prefers to ignore that fact …
@Suzie Sunshine:
He does indeed, Suzie! Peas be upon him regardless.
People born in Dublin don’t say Dublin City……. Ever!
Swap him for paul murphy. Result!
@Liam Minogue: definitely, a man for freedom of speech, just as long as you agree with his self righteousness.
Not a member of the Muslim brotherhood, just in the wrong place at the wrong time…now theres a bunch of lies if ever I saw them!
@OpenBorders: the video of him on stage at the rally is on youtube, you troll
Dùn do veil, moron.
@Hugh Mannatee: Dún do bhéal a chara, Gaeilge uafásach asat.
Agat. Bhfuil aon Geailge ag Ibby? Tà Airibis maith aige. Is a teanga nìos fearr, nì hea?
@Hugh Mannatee: Asat – from you. Tá súil agam go bhfuil Gaeilge níos fearr ag Ibrahim ná tusa, d-fhreastal sé ar bunscoil agus meánscoil anseo in Éireann, agus ag breathnú ar do chuid gramadach, deirfinn gur comhair duitse dul ar ais ar scoil tú fhéin!
Tà Gaeilge ag Ibby ach as mise? An dtuigeann tù Gaeilge in aon chor?
@Lord Clanricarde: wrong place? we were told he was on a holiday, or no wait, sorry that was last year. so much has changed to this media led story.
Hi Suzie. I can neither confirm nor deny the question. However Ireland needs a place like it. Share, write and talk about all issues. I hope it takes off.
FactCheck approved or denied by The Journal? Just wondering.
Denied. They’ll just shut the comments section down again. They haven’t the stones to do a proper Fact Check.
“He wants to return home” So now Ireland is his home when it suits him after ripping up his Irish passport….ok !
@Jason Ebbs:
You just won the Halawa Passport award for being the first contributor in this comments section to post up the bullsh!t allegation that he destroyed his Irish passport. This allegation was started by some dumb fool called ‘Michael’ in September 2014 and is now used as a surefire way to find morons. Jason Ebb, that’s you.
This award will remind you that you are too thick to do even the most basic bit of research to confirm or deny the crap you’re fed.
The original passport claim. http://www.thejournal.ie/ibrahim-halawa-2-1673166-Sep2014/
No one has found any EVIDENCE to support the claim after TWO YEARS.
You dumb thumbers need to think about that,
@Coles: theres no evidence in your old link there either to suggest it wasn’t, aside from it having no point in it. those who tried to remove all video evidence probably have it. However, we do have an emergency passport issues 3 months after that original mysteriously disappeared. If he says he’s now Irish why didn’t he claim the dog ate it? Used to work for us back in the day, but that good old Irish school memory didn’t register here. Hopefully we don’t lose such treasured habits.
@Paudi Onail: Present EVIDENCE.
Just another bigot, eh?
@Coles. It’s not the passport ripping video because I can’t find it anymore. But here he is speaking from inside the mosque. Now listen very carefully to it, especially the part where he says on a number of occasions “I am back in MY country, this is Islam”. But now his country is ireland because it suits him.
My views on this have always been the same and it angers a lot of people and most disagree with it because they say he’s made his bed so now he needs to see in it. But my view is, if he is been accused of a crime he’s entitled to his own day in court and not part of a mass trail with hundreds of co-accused and keeping someone in jail for over three years without trial is wrong.
@Jason Ebbs: So you’re saying you’ve seen the ‘passport ripping video’? Really?
How come in all the discussion of the videos on the Journal.ie and everywhere else that there was never any mention of a passport being destroyed until a muppet named ‘Michael’ says he saw the video a YEAR LATER in September 2014?
Would someone somewhere not have commented on it over that period? Absolutely nothing.
Why would it never have been mentioned if it was visible on the videos?
I’m sure the man is in a hurry to return home . Hopefully next time he can make his mind up where home actually is.
Did they ask him to condemn the Muslim brotherhood or if not to defend their actions …They continue their campaign of persuasion against Christians in Egypt
Ireland gives work visas to Egyptian medics who openly support the Muslim Brotherhood on social media. That’s because Irish immigration policies don’t take the dangers of religious extremism, theocratic lunatics and violent jihadism into account.
Those highly educated doctors then go on to work on propaganda that serves the long-term goals of political Islam. Propaganda which is published here on the journal – such as pushing the islamophobia narrative by either complaining about it or praising Irish people for being so islamophobia-free. Carrot and stick. And people fall for it every time.
If we’re going to permit immigration from countries that have active jihadist organizations which aim to enforce laws which breach all fundamental human rights then we need policies that take that reality into account.
Will comments be disabled on this article too !
You betcha!
@Hugh Mannatee: give it a few hours. 8 TD’s is overkill. Have they no shame?
Was his Dad there?
Was his sisters there too ? Didn’t they skip bail , maybe the they should be returned to the Egyptian custody to face charges too
How can someone be in solitary confinement if they are sharing a cell with two others? Must be similar to his definition of hunger strike. He seems to go on one every second week. Maybe he should read a book on Bobby Sands, one of his SF supporters could send it to him.
People should explain to him that a hunger strike doesn’t mean that you stop eating until you get hungry.
I’d say Mr. Halawa’s sisters are very sorry for bringing their impressionable little brother all the way to Egypt to take part in an attempted uprising against the military government. Normally a young man’s older siblings and father should be a guiding force for good, but his guided him straight into an uprising. It must have looked so hopeful in those heady days, ISIS were on the rampage, it looked like the Muslim Brotherhood could murder, mutilate and rape it’s way through to power in Egypt. As Ibrahim’s and his sisters hubris has now been shown in their many videos, they proclaim that they will amongst other things die for their cause and Allah. The hubris was short lived and now their impressionable little brother is in jail, probably for a long time. They and their father will no doubt take pride in their celebrity within the Salafist cause, their unfortunate brother is paying the price for their illegal political ambitions, though no doubt he is a true believer in the cause also. As an often used ploy he proclaims his Irishness, his replacement passport is put on display. It’s said that a video existed of him burning his old Irish passport, maybe he did or did not, no reason for his temporary passport has been given. Most Irish people are happy for the Egyptian people that an export from here wasn’t successful in bringing Sharia law and all it’s despicable acts to Egypt, we certainly don’t want to bring in any more of the Muslim Brotherhood here. Our government should be explicitly stating that the group is banned here as a terrorist organisation.
Was he unlucky to trip up on the stage, and was in the wrong place at the wrong time to make a speech to the mob
The video is online for all to see,
And his sisters were on that stage too
There is a lot of left wing BS about this case
@Gerard Hanley:He might sue the Winning Streak game, He thought he won a trip to paradise and it didn’t happen..
@Gerard Hanley: So, if you’re on stage, you’re overthrowing the “government (army coup)” , right? Must tell U2 and Bob Geldof.
Ridiculous comment Hugh.
Return home?
@OpenBorders:
Ibrahim claims that Egypt is his home. Lucky for him, that’s exactly where he’s locked up! Convenient!
@Naberius: When did he tell you that?
@OpenBorders:
He says it in one of the fine videos on Youtube. Very entertaining!
@OpenBorders: He said it into a microphone to tens of thousands of idiots like himself on stage in Eygpt, you fool
@Gerard Hanley: *Egypt
Coptic Christians are persecuted by Islamists in Egypt and it’s getting worse:
“An Egyptian Christian liquor shop owner has been murdered by a likely Islamist motivated by “sectarianism” in the coastal city of Alexandria.
Youssef Lamei was slashed in the neck as he sat outside his store on Monday, just weeks after a suicide bomber targeted a church mass in Cairo.”
And here’s how appeasing political Islam ends (not that I blame the victim – Copts have few choices left):
“Lamei’s brother Nasef told ICC:
… Lamei was known as a peaceful man who agreed to close his shop for the whole month of Ramadan so as not to offend his neighbours. He was even known to close his shop during the five daily Muslim prayers.
“He would obey them to prevent any trouble from occurring,” Nasef told ICC
That’s how sharia can be enforced in practice against non-muslims even in a state in which it is not the law of the state. Every other alcohol seller in the area will now think twice about it.
It is Christians across the muslim world who need resettlement in Europe. But there will be no point in offering a single one of them asylum when Ireland is a more tolerant host of their persecutors than even the government of Egypt. We cannot take in and tolerate both muslim brotherhood-supporting imams and doctors and remain a relative haven of religious tolerance. We need to choose.
@Marlowemallow: Has no evidence against Halawa, puts up generic whataboutery.
@OpenBorders: Hi troll, you blocked me because I called you out, you sad sack
@Marlowemallow: Forgot second link. Much of this stuff is only reported by Christian news agencies. Pretty much no one else wants to know about it.
@Marlowemallow: ‘Suspected sectarian attack’, hardly an unbiased source now is it, pull the other one.
@Gerard Hanley: Why the name-calling?
@Hugh Davison: There are some things you don’t know believe it or not. That’s what happens when you spend too much time virtue signalling and not enough observing reality.
@Marlowemallow: Jaysus Marlowe will you get down from your milk crate before you hurt yourself you absolute nutjob.
Why wouldn’t he be brave. He has all those virgins to look forward to should worst come to worst.
@Superfiends: I hope the virgins are better looking than his sisters.
@Eamon Mac Gowan: Who let the dogs out ? Weapons they are. Mohammad wouldn’t ride them to paradise. They wear the head scarfs because they have more facial hair than Ibrahim
@Gerard Hanley: I’m sure your customer’s would be delighted to see that comment Gerard.
@OpenBorders: My customers are not terrorists like that piece of shit from where ever he wants to call home
@Marlowemallow: i know, he has crawled back into his shell, fecking troll
@Marlowemallow: That’s a good point. He’s trolling on here with multiple accounts. You know these guys are cowards, violence is just a free franchise for one of the criminal martyr wannabes.
@Gerard Hanley: I’m still here Ger, despite your threatening private messages on Twitter.
@OpenBorders: so why did you block me, you troll,
@OpenBorders: are you going to open your house to the refugees you have on your cover photo ?
any chance Eamon Ryan could be kept over the set up Egyptian green movement bring in stealth taxes.
Tax payers sponsored junket.. lovely. A comfort to the people on trolleys in hospitals, people living in b&bs, full time carers not getting support, schools falling down with over crowded classes… but once your man in Egypt is strong and well that’s the main thing., ( how will they bring him back to Ireland after he ripped up his passport???)
Tell me Mr Ryan how Halawa was on STAGE with a microphone spouting shit??? And yet you claim it was a street protest. I’ve been on water protest marches but never felt the need to get to the front and scream my feelings like he did. Innocent Mehole. Noe go get some cabbage and chew it raw. You make me sick
He should be sent to Gitmo.
Ohhh. .comments open. . Wonder how long for
@Tony Hardwicke: till they collect enough data for today.
Here he is. In all his Muslim Brother hood loving- Sharia law abiding, glory.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ofgn7925YT4
He tore up his Irish passport, he does not want to be Irish he is an Egyptian, but only when it suits him.
Even Marc Humphries admits that there is no evidence that Ibrahim Halawa destroyed his Irish passport! ffs.
@Coles: What do you mean by “admits”?
I never promoted the passport burning story at any point in the last 3-4 years, because I never saw evidence that it happened.
So you should change “admits” above to “says”.
Now having said that, the Nov 2013 emergency passport thing is odd, and needs explanation. But there is hard evidence for the emergency passport, unlike for the passport burning story.
@Mark Humphrys: I have always had the sense that you were quite reluctant to state explicitly that there was no evidence suggesting Ibrahim Halawa destroyed his passport?
Indeed, on your website (and in the above contribution) you continue to ignore a host of other probabilities for issuing an emergency passport including loss, theft, confiscation etc.
If you made a request for an emergency passport should we immediately assume that you ripped it up or set it on fire? Why not? Why would that be unreasonable?
With any due respect, my post stands.
@Coles: Your feelings are not reliable. I have never supported this story. Indeed, I have spent 3 years looking for evidence of this famous video, even an old dangling broken link. I have asked for evidence many times. None has emerged.
I don’t “ignore” explanations for the emergency passport. But I don’t particularly believe any of them. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Zappone with 40 migrant adult/children at 280000E cost each.
All of them boys\adults 16/17 as stated by Zappone this sums up Islam funny how there are no girls in the mix as with any normal migration it would be 50/50 or maybe 60\40 boys\ girls but in this case all migrants are boys but thats Islam and the Muslim Brotherhood for you. There will be trouble ahead as the Germans are finding out.
If a dog is born in a stable, does that make him a horse??
And we the taxpayer pay for delegation (9 TD ) to go to Egypt forking disgrace !
who gives a feck about some NON IRISHMAN, who i say went to egyt to do as much peacefull protesting as taliban terry when he left our shores… 1 extremist less in our island.. we have nothing to do with him.. so feck off
So what happens now if the Egyptian government ignore the pleadings of this high powered Irish parliamentary delegation, which includes the speaker.
Sanctions maybe, a ban on all Egyptian imports, and on irish people travelling to Egypt, a diplomatic protest, the recall of our ambassador perhaps ?
Have the matter raised in the UN ?
If all else fails a covert amphibious military operation from the mediterranean, from the LE Samuel Beckett presently engaged in taxiing `migrants`around the mediterranean. It would involved a helicopter raid on the prison to rescue our `Irish`citizen being so badly treated, especially when he only went to Egypt as a tourist and was just sight seeing when he was picked up by the security services. Curious how this never seems to happen to other Irish tourists visiting Egypt, despite the fact that thousands visit there every year. Funny that.
Couldn’t care less about him!! Sick and tired hearing about him!! And he might have an Irish passport but that doesn’t make him Irish by a long shot!!! Why all the fuss?? He broke the law in his own country now let him pay the price there!!
@June Rose-Sommer: Ah the old “Guilty without a trial.” Case closed is it?
What a utopia you aspire to.
Where are all these Brits coming from, desperately trying to export their xenophobia?
@Guybrush Threepwood: She’s Irish as far as I’m aware, not that that should have anything to do with anything, and certainly lives in Germany. I don’t know why you needed to speculate about her nationality though. All you people ever do is shout insults anyway. The least you could do is keep it to one word each time.
Just pick one at random – xenophobe, racist, fascist, Nazi, Blueshirt, islamophobe, alt-right, whatever. You could even get a computer generated programme which would randomly select the word for you each time and thereby save even more effort. And it would clog up all our screens less which would be nice.
@Marlowemallow: From a guy who’s only found on articles that hints at those dastardly ‘Muzzis’, preaching the same comment 30 times, allow me to chuckle at the ironing. I’ve even seen you try to preach your nutty phobic obsession on a journal quiz a few days ago. Good for a laugh.
Leave the terrorist where he is
@allan feeney: Which terrorist?
I hope he comes back. It may invoke national discussion on…all that stuff.
“……….in solitary confinement, in a tiny cell with two others…..” For Buddha’s sake, Journal.ie, does anyone proof read this stuff?
He went to Egypt with his sisters and their sole intention was the join the protests at that time. They were well aware of the possibility of being arrested but decided to join the protests anyway.
I don’t know what all the fuss is?Hasn’t he a roof over his head unlike some Irish citizens.
Ibrahim Allawa is a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood who are a far right extremist organisation. The Clonskeagh Mosque of which his father is the head off hosted extremist preachers who support death penalty for gay people and atheists. I do not support his unfair detention without trial but the way left wingers fawn over the Islamist far right whilst claiming they oppose fascism is just sickening.
http://ardevine.blogspot.ie/2017/01/moderates-in-extreme-islamist-spectrum.html
He may not be political but he’s certainly more religious that I am *)
I hope he gets fair treatment and a speedy trial, but if he comes back to Ireland we should be very watchful for further radicalisation during his imprisonment, and how he might influence others. Remember how Frongoch was called the “university of revolution”?
Once again, all out support to all ur valid arguments “openborders”.. keep it up
Generic comment disregarding human rights and the rule of law in favour of imprisoning and torturing and a young man who was legally a child when arrested.
Thanks in advance for all the green thumbs!
Here we go again , this guy is locked up for a reason , and we as tax payers are picking up the tab for this guy . He was there supporting the brotherhood , fair enough long time waiting on his trial . The sooner it’s over the better he will be locked up or released , I was going to say sent home but he is home .
He is home he tore up his Irish passport now he is on deep trouble and wants the stupid paddy to bail him out
have your say