Family criticise Eamon Gilmore's failure to aid jailed Irish teen Ibrahim Halawa

THE family of a teenager locked up in Egypt for nine months without charge have broken their silence to hit out at the Government and Foreign Affairs Minister Eamon Gilmore's failure to come to the Irish citizen's aid amid growing fears for his safety.

Mr Gilmore has still not personally met Ibrahim Halawa's father – Ireland's most senior Islamic cleric – or other family members since the 18-year-old was arrested in Cairo last August. Since then tensions have increased, following mass sentencing to death of hundreds of inmates in Egypt's prisons.

Ibrahim's sister Somaia told the Sunday Independent this weekend: "I'm sure if this was the minister or the President's son it would be dealt with in a different way.

"We are really worried. There is nothing we can do apart from put more pressure on the Government and the EU. We feel that they need to try many times in different ways, because that's just the way it's going to work now in Egypt at the moment. Maybe with a different country – a country that respects humans – their current approach could work, but it doesn't make sense in this case."

Ibrahim, the son of the Imam of the Islamic Cultural Centre in Clonskeagh, Sheikh Hussein Halawa, was arrested last August along with his three older sisters Omaima, 21, Fatima, 23, and Somaia, 28, following a day of protest held in Cairo.

Sheikh Halawa is now calling on the Irish Government and the EU to push the Egyptian authorities harder in order to secure his son's release.

"We have met with the Government a lot of times," he told the Sunday Independent.

"We met with the Minister for Justice before and people in the Department of Foreign Affairs, but I wish they could do something to push the matter now. The time is not good for us. I hope they can do something more and more immediate."

Ibrahim, who was 17 at the time of his arrest, was born and raised in Dublin.

The teenager was taken into custody after taking refuge with his sisters at the al-Fateh Mosque in the Egyptian capital during protests against the ousting of former President Mohammed Morsi.

However, while Ibrahim's three sisters were released following a three-month detention period last November, Ibrahim remains in an adult prison near Cairo, despite still qualifying as a minor under Egyptian law.

Source-Irish Independent