Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 11 March 2015

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade

Update on EU Foreign Affairs Council: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade

10:30 am

Photo of Charles FlanaganCharles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This continues to be an issue of the highest priority for me and my Department. I thank the Chair and acknowledge the role of this committee in respect of its sustained interest and constructive engagement on the matter. Since the committee's last briefing on the case, I met last week in Geneva with the Egyptian deputy foreign Minister. I emphasised Ireland's continued concerns regarding the detention of Mr. Halawa. Minister Badr undertook to convey the Irish position to his Government, which he duly did. I am also due to speak again with foreign Minister Shoukry and I will take the opportunity to stress Ireland's ongoing concerns on this case. I met with Minister Shoukry personally on two occasions and spoke to him directly on the phone with others with the Halawa family on 12 February. My officials remain in ongoing contact with him and had a meeting with him as recently as 26 February.

Embassy officials in Cairo met with Mr. Halawa most recently last Sunday. It remains unclear whether the Egyptian authorities regard Ibrahim Halawa as eligible for release under the recently-announced presidential decree. Contacts are ongoing with the Egyptian authorities on this important point. Our ambassador in Cairo recently met with the Egyptian Prosecutor General to discuss this case and we are informed that the Office of the Prosecutor General is currently examining an application made under the presidential decree. While it must be stressed that this is only one of many ongoing and difficult consular cases in my Department, one of more than 1,600 that we dealt with last year, I assure the committee that this case and the ongoing detention of Ibrahim Halawa is a priority for me and my Department. However, it is a particularly complex case. As the Chair will appreciate given his own international engagement and travel, as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, I simply cannot get Irish citizens released from foreign prisons. The decision is for the Egyptians to make, but I can certainly influence and advocate and this is a case I have been making over many months. It is an exceptional case and I will continue to ensure sustained high-level contacts with the Egyptian authorities. We will continue to take all appropriate action to ensure the release of Ibrahim Halawa and in the meantime to ensure his health and welfare are adequately catered for. We are seeking a review of the case. I am seeking his release. I am seeking a return of Ibrahim Halawa to Dublin, to his studies, to his place of education and to his family. I am happy to continue to highlight the case in every way possible. I acknowledge the Chairman's recent initiative and thank him for his own contribution in that regard.

Comparisons have been made to an international case involving a journalist. Some unfair comparisons have been made. Direct comparisons cannot be made between how the Egyptians acted in the case of Peter Greste and how they will act in the case of Ibrahim Halawa. Mr. Greste did not have Egyptian citizenship. He had already been sentenced at the time he was released: his case had taken place, due process had been facilitated and the sentence had been handed down. In this case, however unacceptable it might be, we are still awaiting trial, although charges have been laid. It should also be noted that the type of charges Mr. Greste faced were fundamentally different from those faced by Ibrahim Halawa. Having made that comparison, I assure the Chairman that we will continue at every level to prioritise this case and call for this man's return.

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