Reprieve, who have been campaigning on behalf of the Halawa family since 2014, have instructed Gráinne Mellon to advise on international law issues arising in his case.
Ibrahim Halawa is an Irish citizen who, aged 17, was arrested along with hundreds of others during the siege of the Al-Fatah mosque in Cairo in August 2013. Gráinne is a member of the Garden Court Chambers international advice and litigation team.
Ibrahim has been detained for over 2 years and is awaiting a ‘mass trial’, in which he will be tried alongside 493 others. The charges against him, all of which he denies, are not specific to his alleged conduct. He faces the death penalty if convicted despite the ban in international law on the use of the death penalty for children.
Ibrahim has made allegations of torture and mistreatment at the hands of the Egyptian police and prison officials, including beatings with whips and chains. He received a gunshot wound to his hand during his arrest, for which he was denied medical treatment in prison, leading to permanent damage.
Gráinne’s advice has included a legal opinion to the Irish Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee outlining the violations of international law in Ibrahim’s case. There was media coverage of that opinion in the Irish Independent.
Information about the case can also be found on the Reprieve website and in the press, including The Independent and The Times.
Gráinne Mellon of Garden Court Chambers is instructed by Catherine Higham and Cierán Suter of Reprieve, who have been campaigning on behalf of the Halawa family for Ibrahim’s release. She lectures in International Human Rights Law at the London School of Economics and is admitted to the Bar of Ireland.
