adminCairo – Egypt has delayed a mass trial that includes an Irish citizen on hunger strike for the tenth time, raising concern among his family, human rights groups and lawyers that his health will deteriorate further. Ibrahim Halawa’s trial with 493 other defendants was due to be heard in court on Tuesday but was cancelled because one of the defendants was unable to attend, reports said. He was arrested in August 2013 with hundreds more people for an alleged role in violence during protests in Cairo – charges he, witnesses, and his lawyers all deny. “With each day that passes with Ibrahim in jail, his life is affected negatively, both physically and mentally,” Somaia Halawa, his sister, said on Wednesday.
“Sometimes, we fear that it is too late to fix things. We hope it’s not too late for Ibrahim.”
The trial was postponed until Saturday. Caoilfhionn Gallagher, a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, London, which represents the 20-year-old, said: “Our client has been held without trial in horrendous, inhumane conditions.
“When the trial eventually proceeds it will inevitably be unfair, our client has not been allowed proper access to his lawyers to prepare his defence and he has been held for so long on vague, trumped up charges without supporting evidence.”
Halawa began a hunger strike protest in October.
Colm O’Gorman, head of Amnesty International Ireland, said that he “remains gravely concerned for Ibrahim’s mental and physical wellbeing. — AFP
Online Reporter