The family of the 19-year-old Irish citizen detained in Cairo, Ibrahim Halawa, has staged a protest outside Leinster House on Wednesday to call on Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny to contact the Egyptian authorities and demand Halawa's release, Herald.ie reported on Thursday.
Halawa's family says their son has been detained over fabricated charges, among other supporters of toppled President Mohamed Morsi.
The 19-year-old student was arrested in August 2013 during a pro-Morsi protest at al-Fateh Mosque. Along with hundreds of other protesters, he faces charges of murder, attempted murder, and attacking a police station. The family claims he is innocent of all the charges, adding that the last time his mother went to visit him in jail, she could not find him.
"If Enda Kenny's son, or the son of Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan was arrested and put in prison in a foreign country, they would have lifted the phone a lot sooner," Somaia, Halawa's sister, told Herald.
According to the webpage, Halawa is the son of Ireland's most senior Muslim cleric, Sheikh Hussein Halawa.
His next trial session is scheduled to be held on April 26.
