The case of this individual, who has been detained in Egypt for almost three years, continues to be of the highest priority for the Government and for my Department. We are providing ongoing consular assistance to the individual including through regular prison visits and the monitoring of all trial hearings.
I can confirm that the citizen was transferred between prisons last week without the prior knowledge of the Irish Embassy in Cairo or his family. On learning that the citizen’s family had concerns about his whereabouts, officials from my Department immediately made contact with the Egyptian authorities, both in Dublin and in Cairo, to register our concern and to seek to establish the facts. After some temporary confusion on 12 April, my officials were able to confirm his place of detention.
The Egyptian authorities have advised that there are security issues pertaining to prisoner moves, and prison authorities do not release advance information on such moves in order not to prejudice the safety of both prisoners and security personnel.
I met with the Ambassador of Egypt, Ms Soha Gendi, on Thursday 14 April. During our meeting I once again underlined to her the Government’s concerns about the welfare of this Irish citizen.
On Sunday, 17 April, our Ambassador in Egypt, Mr Damien Cole, accompanied by officials from the Embassy, visited the detained Irish citizen in the prison near Cairo, and had the opportunity for a discussion on the full range of consular issues arising in the case. This was the latest in a very regular and frequent series of such meetings.
The Government, and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, is continuing to work through all diplomatic and political channels to achieve our objective of seeing this citizen returned to Ireland as soon as possible.