Further delay to Ibrahim Halawa hearing

Eygpt’s ambassador to Ireland snubbed efforts by an Oireachtas committee to attend yesterday’s scheduled court hearing in Cairo of the mass trial involving Irish teenager Ibrahim Halawa.

The 19-year-old Dubliner’s trial was adjourned for a ninth time, this time to December 15, apparently because two of the 494 defendants failed to appear.

Amnesty International head in Ireland, Colm O’Gorman, described the latest development as “obscene” and Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan, who visited Ibrahim in prison during the summer, called for immediate intervention by Taoiseach Enda Kenny.