Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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1167. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his position regarding prisoners' rights and freedom of expression and protest in Egypt; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33051/14]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Ireland has made clear on a number of occasions its continued strong concerns over the human rights situation in Egypt under a wide variety of headings. These concerns are widely shared by our European partners and have been repeatedly stressed by the EU and individual Member States, including Ireland, as central concerns in the future development of our relations with Egypt.

Ireland intervened at the UN Human Rights Council to express these concerns yesterday, indicating our continued concerns over arbitrary detention, selective justice and respect for the rule of law, impunity in cases of civilian deaths at the hands of the security forces and sexual abuse and violence against prisoners, as well as proposed new measures to restrict the freedom of civil society. Many of these issues were also raised in the separate EU statement delivered during the same debate.

I have also raised our concerns directly with Egyptian Foreign Minister Shoukry in a phone conversation I had with him on Monday 14 July, stressing the importance we attach to upholding basic rights such as the freedom of expression and the rights of a free press. I also set out our strong concerns in respect of the case of Ibrahim Halawa.

Egypt’s new constitution provides guarantees for the fundamental rights of its people which the Egyptian courts, regrettably, do not appear to have fully recognised in a number of recent verdicts. This is deeply worrying to those of us who wish to support Egypt and the Egyptian people in their ongoing difficult transition to democracy. It is a message which continues to be clearly communicated in our ongoing contacts with the Egyptian authorities, both here and through our Embassy in Cairo.