Verdict in Halawa trial due on Monday

Regardless of the outcome of the trial, the Government has said it will seek to have him returned to Ireland. However, campaigners and human rights groups have warned that the process of bringing him home could be less than straightforward.

Mr Halawa is one of hundreds of people who are being tried in mass trial for serious offences related to alleged participation in a political protest, all of which he strongly denies.

Now 21, Mr Halawa was 17 at the time of his arrest in 2013, and his lawyers fear he may face the death penalty if convicted.

Reprieve director Maya Foa said: “This mass trial of 494 defendants has dragged on. Again and again, Egyptian authorities have promised the end of legal proceedings was near, and then broken that promise.

“All the while, Ibrahim has been unlawfully detained, tortured, and threatened with a death sentence for the crime of attending a protest.”

Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan, who raised Mr Halawa’s case in the European Parliament, added: “We have to be sure that the Irish government are ready to exert maximum pressure on President Sisi to keep his promise once there is a verdict, even if that is a guilty verdict.”