Irish teen detained further as judge walks out of trial

The family of an Irish teenager detained in Egypt for the past year face a further anxious wait for his fate to be determined after the mass trial he was to be part of was dramatically postponed.

Ibrahim Halawa, 18, from Firhouse in Dublin, was one of 480 defendants brought before a court in Cairo yesterday to jointly face charges — some carrying the death penalty — arising from arrests during a crackdown on peaceful protests in the city last year.

But the judge walked out before hearing evidence and the defendants were removed from court, leaving questions hanging over their whereabouts and what will happen to them next.