Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise three justice issues that the justice sub-committee should seriously address, if it is not already considering them. First, there is the case of Ibrahim Halawa. The Taoiseach knows that today his trial has for the umpteenth time been postponed. It will now take place at the end of the month. From a justice perspective, we need to publicly say that the process of so-called justice that is being applied to Ibrahim Halawa is an utter sham. He is essentially the victim of a political show trial by a regime that has discarded any interest in the human rights of its own citizens or, in this case, one of our citizens. It is engaged in using a sham judicial process to eliminate and terrorise political opponents. In this case, it is one of our own citizens who got caught up in nothing more than a protest.

It begs the question of why we are not being more robust in terms of calling out this injustice. The Cabinet Committee on Justice Reform needs to see it in those terms.

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