Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome to the Dáil today two of the sisters of Ibrahim Halawa, Nusaiba and Somaia, who are waiting patiently in the Visitors Gallery. I ask the Minister to please understand the enormous stress this family are under because of what has happened to their brother and son.

Ibrahim has been jailed in Egypt since August 2013 for participating in a peaceful protest. He is recognised by Amnesty International and Reprieve, two major NGOs, as a prisoner of conscience and they also fear his life is in danger. Let us be clear about the nature of the Egyptian regime in 2015. It is a vicious military dictatorship which is trying to reassert control after the Arab Spring revolution that has been taking place, which routinely mass-sentences hundreds to their deaths after sham trials and which represses not just the Muslim Brotherhood but also others, for example, a female socialist was shot in the street in recent weeks for participating in a peaceful protest. It crushes all opposition.

We and the family are asking not just the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Flanagan, but at this stage the Taoiseach himself to intervene in this case. Given the situation Egypt, this should not be just Minister to Minister. The Taoiseach needs to intervene with the Prime Minister and the President to demonstrate beyond any doubt that the Irish Government is doing its utmost to get released an Irish citizen in a foreign prison.

I do not know how many Irish people are in foreign prisons at the moment but I certainly do not think sufficient of what needs to be done is being done by the Government. A man's life is in danger. Ibrahim has been tortured, whipped, electrocuted and shot in the hand. The stress on his mother is enormous. She has had to move to Egypt to visit him, and she was eventually allowed to see him on Saturday. He has been moved to the prison of Wadi al-Natrun, which is a notorious torture chamber. He said to her on Saturday: "Mum, take me out of here, they are killing me here". I cannot emphasise enough that if the Government does not intervene at the highest level, we could have a tragedy on our hands.

What I am asking the Minister to do is this. So far, it would seem the Minister has been making representations to the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Mr. Shoukry, and he has done this three times, as reported in The Irish Timestoday. The Irish ambassador in Cairo has also taken an interest in the case. All that is not disputed. However, what has been asked by the Minister is for a review of Ibrahim's case or for him to be given a fair and separate trial. There is no fair and separate trial possible in this situation. It is a mass trial of 500. They will not take out one person and give him a fair trial. We need the Irish Government to recognise he should not be in jail because he does not have any case to answer, as has been well-investigated and documented.

What is being done is not working. This is a dictatorship, not a normal Government. One month ago, a presidential decree was submitted by lawyers for Ibrahim but, one month on, nothing has happened. Will the Minister of State, Deputy Deenihan, report back to us? The Taoiseach himself has to act on this presidential decree because that is the only way it will move from the prosecutor's office to the Prime Minister's office. It will only be done if there is a push and pressure at the highest level. This is how Peter Greste, the Australian who shared a cell with Ibrahim, was released. This is how the Canadians and the Turkish have had their citizens released.

I would finish by raising a question mark. The Minister of State, Deputy Deenihan, is responsible for the diaspora abroad. Are there two tiers of citizenship in this country? We have given citizenship to many people. Ibrahim was born, bred and educated here. He has played GAA, in which the Minister of State has an interest. He is as Irish as anyone else. Are we serious about the new Irish or do we just think that Irish people are homogenous and only white and Catholic? That is a very serious issue. The family feel, and I certainly feel, that if his name was Paddy or Mick and if he was white, a lot more would have been done. I ask the Minister of State to put aside any concerns about the beef trade or any other concerns he has about the Egyptians and to please get the Taoiseach to intervene.

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