Delegation of TDs to travel to Cairo to meet Ibrahim Halawa

A delegation of TDs is travelling to Cairo on Monday and is scheduled to visit Ibrahim Halawa in Wadi el Natrun prison, where he has been held for three and a half years, on Tuesday.

The Leinster House delegation, which is led by the Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl also has meetings scheduled with a number of senior officials and politicians in the Egyptian government, including the president, Mr Fattah El Sissi, on Wednesday.

The TDs will also meet the speaker of the Egyptian parliament and the head of homeland security during the visit.

They are expected to discuss a range of issues with their Egyptian hosts, including the continued detention without trial of Mr Halawa, an Irish citizen is Egyptian parentage who was arrested during protests in Cairo in 2013.

Arlene Foster says she won’t blink in ‘game of chicken’ with Sinn Féin

---

French police arrest 16 over €9m Kim Kardashian robbery

---

Donald Trump dismisses Meryl Streep as ‘Hillary lover’

---

‘Bridgets’ of Park Avenue still serve the wealthy

---

Mr Halawa (21), from Firhouse, Dublin, has been awaiting trial along with 500 other detainees, but has seen his trial postponed on a number of occasions.

He was arrested during protests in Cairo after the Muslim Brotherhood was ousted from power through a military coup. Mr Halawa was 17 at the time.

The other TDs in the delegation are Labour leader Brendan Howlin; Green Party leader Eamon Ryan; Fianna Fáil foreign affairs spokesman Darragh O’Brien; Sinn Féin’s housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin; Fine Gael TD Colm Brophy; Anti-Austerity Alliance TD Paul Murphy, and Independent TD Noel Grealish.

The visit was planned after a Dáil debate last July on Mr Halawa’s continued detention without trial.