Irish opposition politician calls on gov’t to cut ties with Egypt
An Irish member of parliament has called for Dublin to cut diplomatic ties with Cairo over the pre-trial detention of Ibrahim Halawa, an Egyptian-born Irish national who was 17 when he was arrested in 2013 during an Ikhwan protest against the 30 June Revolution. Catherine Martin, one of two Green Party MPs sitting in Ireland’s Dáil, made the call during a debate on Thursday that saw the passage of an all-party resolution calling on Egypt to free Halawa. Ireland’s foreign minister noted that Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny had spoken with “the Egyptian president for the third time on Monday about the case,” state broadcaster RTE reported, adding, “The Egyptian Ambassador will be called to appear before the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee to address the repeated delays in the trial of the Dublin man.” Halawa’s trial has been postponed more than a dozen times now; he is next due in court on 2 October alongside nearly 500 other defendants.