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For Immediate Release
Contact: Reprieve's London office can be contacted on: communications [at] reprieve.org.uk / +44 (0) 207 553 8140.,Reprieve US,, based in New York City, can be contacted on Katherine [dot] oshea [at] reprieve.org

Egypt Frees Irish Student After Four-Year Ordeal

WASHINGTON

The Egyptian authorities have released an Irish citizen who was arrested at a protest at the age of 17, and who had been facing a death sentence.

Ibrahim Halawa from Dublin, was 17 when he was arrested with hundreds of other people in 2013, as part of a crackdown on protests in Egypt. He was held in pre-trial detention for over four years, and reported being regularly tortured.

Ibrahim was tried as an adult alongside 493 other people, despite having been a juvenile at the time of his arrest. The mass trial - one of several to have taken place since 2013 - was frequently postponed. Hearings of the trial were criticised for failing to meet basic standards.

Maya Foa, Director of human rights organization Reprieve - which has been assisting Ibrahim - said:

"It is fantastic news, and long overdue, that Ibrahim is finally free. He and his family have been through an unimaginable ordeal, even though Ibrahim's only 'crime' was to attend a protest. He must now be given time and space to recover with his family. Meanwhile, Egypt's allies - including the UK and the US - must strongly urge Sisi to end the brutal repression that continues in the country, including mass trials and hundreds of unlawful death sentences."

Reprieve is a UK-based human rights organization that uses the law to enforce the human rights of prisoners, from death row to Guantanamo Bay.