Lawyers to apply for Ibrahim Halawa release under Law 140

Lawyers for Irish citizen Ibrahim Halawa say an application for his release from jail in Cairo under the Egyptian Presidential Decree Law 140 will be lodged this week.

The Government is expected to give its full support to the application.

Mr Halawa, 20, is being prosecuted alongside 494 co-defendants in mass trial for allegedly participating in a political protest in 2013.

He was 17 at the time of his arrest and has been charged with serious offences, all of which he strongly denies. His lawyers believe that, if convicted, he may face the death penalty.

Law 140 allows for those under trial in Egypt to be deported to their home country.

Solicitor Darragh Mackin of Belfast firm KRW Law said: “Ibrahim Halawa is entitled to the presumption of innocence. No evidence has been produced by the state of Egypt to support these allegations, and no finding has been made against Ibrahim by the Egyptian courts.

“He has now been held in detention for three years, after being arrested when a child aged 17, and his case has been adjourned 14 times. He has witnessed physical abuse of detainees and torture in prison, and at present is into his second week of a hunger strike. There is no prospect that Ibrahim will receive a fair trial.

“A request for Ibrahim’s immediate release under the Egyptian Presidential Decree Law 140 is now imminent. It is expected that this request will be lodged before the end of week. It is our clear understanding that such a request will be supported and endorsed by the Irish Government at all levels.”