Lorraine tells students about fight to free Ibrahim
AMNESTY International Wexford member Lorraine Smyth visited Loreto School in the run up to Christmas to speak about the work of the human rights body and the campaign to win the freedom of Dubliner Ibrahim Halawi who has been in prison without trial in Egypt for over three years.
‘I have to commend the students of Loreto Wexford,’ said Lorraine, following the visit.
‘ They were well informed on current issues around human rights and a lovely bunch of very polite ladies. Loreto be proud of your girls. It was a pleasure presenting the Amnesty Presentation to them.’
‘I explained that sometimes fighting for the rights of others seems like a thankless task, but I was on the Mandela Campaign along with other campaigns and when the people are released from an unjust inprisionment it is all worth it in the end,’ said Lorraine following the meeting.
Ibrahim recently wrote to Lorraine from his prison cell, thanking her, and the people of Wexford town and county for their unconditional support.
Ibrahim has been in prison since August 2013 when he was arrested at the Fateh mosque in Cairo during protests against the ousting of then-president Mohamed Morsi.
He is accused along with 493 others on serious charges which could result in life imprisonment or the death penalty, however, his trial date has been repeatedly delayed and appeals to Egyptian authorities for him to be freed because he did not commit any crime have fallen on deaf ears.
Lorraine, who lives in Barntown, is very active in the campaign to fee Ibrahim, who was aged less than 17 when he was first arrested, and has attended protests outside the Egyptian Embassy in London with two of his sisters Omaima and Fatima, who were arrested with him but subsequently released.
‘I have to say in the world we live in today with such hardship and negativity you would be heartened by the Loreto students,’ said the Wexford campaigner.