Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is from the only legal team he has got. Could we get some clarification on this, because it is an important issue? If he faces lesser charges, the Egyptian court should have released him last February, because a person can only be held in detention for 18 months. Therefore, we would be quite within our rights to ask for him to be released on bail. However, if he still faces the death penalty, the more important issue of the presidential decree comes into play.

We had various briefings from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade about Peter Greste, and his case is the precedent we have focused on. His trial had finished and he had been convicted and sentenced. It was only when that initial judicial process had been concluded that the Egyptian authorities were in a position to release him, according to the briefing note we got from the Department. That is technically misleading. The Doughty Street Chambers's opinion, which has been received by the Department, states that when applied in practice, law 140 supports the conclusion that the final judgment is not required prior to transfer. The Australian journalist Peter Greste, who for a time shared a cell with Ibrahim Halawa, was transferred to Australia pursuant to the decree. He had been convicted in 2014 on charges of falsifying news reports.