{"id":20546,"date":"2018-03-29T13:17:48","date_gmt":"2018-03-29T12:17:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/?p=20546"},"modified":"2018-03-29T14:28:12","modified_gmt":"2018-03-29T13:28:12","slug":"ibrahim-halawa-speaks-to-university-of-limerick-students-about-life-inside-an-egyptian-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/ibrahim-halawa-speaks-to-university-of-limerick-students-about-life-inside-an-egyptian-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"Ibrahim Halawa speaks to University of Limerick students about life inside an Egyptian prison"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ibrahim Halawa took time to speak to students at the University of Limerick on Wednesday the 21st<\/sup> of March.<\/p>\n

The Dublin born man spoke about his time in an Egyptian prison, his decision to become political and the problem of radicalisation in prisons.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The 22-year-old says that religion has very little to do with radicalisation in prisons, but admits it is a huge problem in countries such as Egypt.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cOf course radicalisation was a big problem in prison, it\u2019s certainly not a small issue, but it has nothing to do with religion I need to clarify that firstly,\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cAt least when it comes from in prison, if it’s outside of prison someone else can speak about that it’s not my field, my field is what I have seen in front of my eyes, which is people being radicalised,\u201d Ibrahim said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ibrahim, who spent four years in an Egyptian prison without trial, says that a large part of radicalization stems from people who are innocent being sent to prison, and nothing being done to help them. He says the loss of hope and the anger that these people feel make its easier to manipulate them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI had a cellmate whose wife was being tortured in front of him, she was stripped naked and electrocuted in her genitals, and he was made watch.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone like that is not going to say oh I forgive you very easily, so obviously he’s going to come out and seek revenge,\u201d said Ibrahim.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ibrahim brought these issues up when he was in the European parliament.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are fighting terrorists and killing innocent people but we know where it is being manufactured, it’s been manufactured in prisons of a dictator like in Egypt.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe know where it’s coming from, \u00a0but we’re not willing to fight it, we’re not willing to put political pressure on it to end it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ibrahim says he tried to counter radicalisation by giving prisoners another outlet of hope.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who have been radicalised have a special loss of hope, it’s a lack of emotions that are being filled with revenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was always in prison trying to give people hope and that’s what I’m doing right now I’m not giving up on them, I can prevent more people being radicalised,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While in prison, Ibrahim learned that his mother has been diagnosed with cancer. It was this news that drove him to take a hunger strike.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI just said I can’t give up especially after my mum was diagnosed with cancer and that’s when I went on a severe hunger strike where I was in a wheelchair,\u201d he said<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cA hunger strike\u00a0is not just a decision to stop eating.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn prison, a hunger strike is the strongest weapon you have because when they realise you are willing to give up life for something so valuable to you, that’s when they start to negotiate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Dublin born man said that he had been inspired by Irish political prisoners such as Bobby Sands.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI had to study hunger strikes and people who had gone on hunger strike and the stuff I discovered from the hunger strike itself give me the experience of a lifetime.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

People go through hardships for us to learn from their story, they went through hardship and I had to learn from their story,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ibrahim spoke about his time inside an Egyptian prison and how it differs from his life back home.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a whole new world you can’t describe in a few minutes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cEveryday I\u2019d learn something new,\u00a0it was different words different types of food,\u00a0different types of engagement, different types of currency,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The 22-year-old, who was only 17 when he was arrested during protests in Cairo, spoke about the mental and physical torture he was subjected to during his time in prison.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the mental torture that really got me, waking\u00a0up to screaming, beating me in front of my mum, shaving my head every day leaving patches of hair on my head to show that they are in control, but I refused to surrender to them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ibrahim described how in prison, you must learn to find hope in the smallest and most unlikely of places. For food, the prisoners were often given uncooked beans to eat. While most of the prisoners would complain about this, Ibrahim turned it into something beautiful.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI took one of the beans that they gave us and I put it in some tissue, I would water that tissue every few days.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a few days I saw a leaf grow, I saw something green grow for the first time in years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ibrahim has refuted claims that he went to Egypt to become politically active.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI went to Egypt for a summer holiday, my family is originally from Egypt, my mum and dad are Egyptian.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cBut of course from a holiday, it turned politically active, \u00a0I was protesting about my two friends that died,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ibrahim addressed the people who were asking \u201chow do you get from the cinema and end up on stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI walked, it’s not that hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ibrahim explained that he decided to become politically active in Eygpt after his friends were shot by the military.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI was arrested for saying that it is wrong to kill people.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was saying no it’s wrong to kill my friends,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said that he was unaware of the impact his protest would have on his life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest when you have someone close die to you, people you build memories with there is that human factor within you that rages.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You want to speak out, you want to stand up for your friends, and at the time I didn’t see the consequences of me speaking out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ibrahim says that he never expected to end up behind bars in an Egyptian prison.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I was going to come back to my normal life my college life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was living in Europe where we take human rights for granted,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Despite his horrific ordeal, Ibrahim says that if he could turn back the clocks, he would still stand up for what he believes in.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn’t change anything about it I would do the same thing again,\u201d he finished.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/path><\/svg><\/i> \"Loading\"<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"reddit\"<\/a>\"pinterest\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ibrahim Halawa took time to speak to students at the University of Limerick on Wednesday the 21st of March. The Dublin born man spoke about his time in an Egyptian prison, his decision to become political and the problem of radicalisation in prisons.   The 22-year-old says that religion has very little to do with […]<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/path><\/svg><\/i> \"Loading\"<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20547,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101965],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":true,"total_views":19,"today_views":0},"views":2638,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSC_0169.jpg","wps_subtitle":"The Dublin born man spoke about his time in an Egyptian prison, his decision to become political and the problem of radicalisation in prisons.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20546"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20556,"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20546\/revisions\/20556"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}