Lawyers for Ibrahim Halawa, the Irish teenager detained in an Egyptian prison for more than two years without trial, have appealed to British prime minister David Cameron to raise the case with Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during his visit to the UK this week.
In a letter sent on Monday, the legal team called for Mr Halawa’s case to be raised with Mr Sisi “as a matter of urgency” and for the Egyptians to be pressed on the teenager’s “immediate transfer to Ireland” under the terms of Egyptian Law 140 of 2014. They also asked Mr Cameron to raise “the broader issues of widespread human rights abuses in Egypt” with the president.
In their letter to Mr Cameron the legal team set out a long list of violations of the 19-year-old's rights in the 27 months he has spent in custody in Egypt, which they say constitute multiple breaches by Egypt of its international legal obligations.
Among other things they say Mr Halawa has endured arbitrary detention, torture and inhumane treatment, and, having been denied access to his lawyers, he is now awaiting a mass trial, involving 494 defendants which they claim breaches the most basic judicial standards of fairness.
His trial date has now been set for December 15th. If he is convicted, the letter stresses, he is at risk of being sentenced to death.
Mr Halawa, who has been detained since August 2013, is charged with taking part in a banned protest in Cairo in July 2013.
