Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. Concrete steps are being taken but I am not too sure how strong they are or how effective they will be. As the Minister of State knows, some months ago, the Irish section of AWEPA welcomed members of parliament from Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and Libya and both he and the Ceann Comhairle met them. A significant part of the discussion we had was how collectively as parliamentarian we can show support for other countries' transition towards democracy and that together we have a strong belief in democratic institutions and that they will uphold fundamental human rights principles. There is a very serious danger to the whole democratic process by what is happening.

It is even going against the Egyptian constitution because article 96 states that those accused of a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a fair legal trial in which the right to defend one's self is guaranteed. It also goes against the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Egypt is a state party. It limits the circumstances in which a state can impose the death sentence.

The UN Human Rights Committee has said that in cases of trials leading to the imposition of the death penalty, scrupulous respect of the guarantees of a fair trial is particularly important. All of those have been breached by Egypt in the recent decisions that have been made.

In the final part of his reply the Minister of State indicated that Ireland and its EU partners would continue to closely monitor developments. One could ask how strong a response is that and is the EU with Ireland as a strong voice prepared to go further and to consider other issues including sanctions against Egypt? Much of Egypt’s trade is with Europe. Could we consider tying human rights into trade and therefore be a stronger voice when it comes to human rights?

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