THE SISTER OF an Irish teenager who has been in an Egyptian prison for a year says her brother was stripped naked and beaten with a metal chain on Saturday.
Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast Nosayba Halawa said she had gone to visit her brother, Ibrahim Halawa, in prison yesterday.
Ibrahim Halawa was arrested a rally in support of ousted Egyptian leader Mohammed Morsi a year ago.
He has been held without trial along with other Morsi protesters.
The judge in the case walked out of court on Tuesday, saying he could not stand over the trial.
Hunger strike
Since then, Ibrahim has been on hunger strike.
Speaking about her brother’s abuse, Nosayba Halawa said that he was stripped naked and forced to stand facing the wall with his hands by his head for hours.
She said he was dragged from his cell, forced to lie on the floor and was beaten with a metal chain.
“Imagine how I felt leaving my brother yesterday. Leaving my brother in these hands,” she said.
Tony Blair
The Independent newspaper in the UK reports today that the charity Reprieve has urged Tony Blair to intervene in the case.
The head of the charity says that Blair, who is Middle East peace envoy and an informal adviser to the Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah alSisi, should use his “obvious influence” with Egypt’s leadership to secure Ibrahim’s release.
The report states that the charity, which campaigns against the death penalty, has written to Blair, urging the former Prime Minister to use his influence with the Egyptian government.
Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan welcomed the involvement of the human rights charity organisation, saying: “The fact that Reprieve has become involved in Ibrahim’s case, highlights the fact that he has little chance of a fair trial in Egypt – something that we and the Halawa family have been saying for some time.”
Lynn Boylan previously secured 27 MEP signatures on a letter to EU High Representative of Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton and to the Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Hassan Shoukry calling for the immediate release of Ibrahim.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say