Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I support the motion. I have no confidence whatsoever in the legal system in Egypt. It is a sham trial of a huge number of people. The case has been cancelled on a number of occasions on the basis that witnesses have not turned up. It is an absolute joke to see the legal system in Egypt and I do not see how anyone can have any confidence in it. The Chairman said the law will take its course but there is no law relating to this country. What is happening is an absolute joke. People are being arrested and held, as in this case, for years. This young man was 17 years of age when he was arrested. On 19 December, he will be 20. He was on hunger strike at one point for 40 days and the last I heard was that he was still on hunger strike.

I do not see the harm in bringing in the legal team, the members of which believe that the direction the Irish Government has taken in this case is wrong. I would like to hear formally what they actually say. I do not see what harm it would cause if we, as a committee, felt so strongly about the case that we formally met with individuals and groups involved with it. People have argued that we should do it on the quiet and that this is in the best interests of Ibrahim but we have already taken this approach and he is still in jail. I urge the Chair and other members to think again. I have formally met the Australian legal team on the Peter Greste case and the information they gave me was the opposite of what we were being told in this committee. We were told he was no longer charged but the legal team told us he won his case and the Egyptian authorities appealed the ruling, meaning he was still formally under charge. Ibrahim has also been formally charged but we seem to be getting conflicting information and there is now an urgency to this case. I do not know of any other Irish citizen who is facing the death penalty and there is an onus on us to do everything we can to save this young man's life.