{"id":8944,"date":"2016-12-08T12:22:32","date_gmt":"2016-12-08T12:22:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reprieve.org.uk\/?page_id=8944"},"modified":"2020-05-29T15:17:11","modified_gmt":"2020-05-29T15:17:11","slug":"letter-ibrahim-halawa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/2016\/12\/08\/letter-ibrahim-halawa\/","title":{"rendered":"A letter from Ibrahim Halawa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.reprieve.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Halawa.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8946\" src=\"http:\/\/www.reprieve.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Halawa.jpg\" alt=\"halawa\" width=\"600\" height=\"346\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Dear Ireland,<\/p>\n<p>I really don\u2019t know what to say, I have been taken away from you for so long. But I miss you dearly. It\u2019s really out of my hands. I can\u2019t understand, I just can\u2019t understand why they have kidnapped me away from you. So young I was while you were teaching me how to live, laugh, love and care. But they have taken me away before you had the time to teach me how to struggle, how to deal with evil and hatred.<\/p>\n<p>When I was young I used to run to you whenever I was sad and needed to complain about my humongous kiddie problems. The time my Mum delayed getting me the latest PlayStation game when all the other friends had it. Or when I wasn\u2019t allowed stay out late at night. And when I entered secondary school and exams were much tougher than before. Or that time I came to complain about my first teenage love.<\/p>\n<p>Do you remember when I came running to you crying about the kid who screamed at me saying \u201cgo back to your country\u201d and as usual you were crying rain and I was relieved because you were sharing my crying. But now that I\u2019m growing up away from you and banned from talking to you, who am I supposed to complain to now that my kiddie worldly problems turned out to be just a drop in the ocean.<\/p>\n<p>Ireland, I really need to complain to you about how one human enjoys torturing another human, the continued injustice, the oppression and the killing of the innocent. Ireland I\u2019m lusting to walk on the sand of Bray beach, screaming freedom from the top of the Cliffs of Moher, your rainforest trees to hug me tight and make me feel safe again and that kind bus driver on the daily commute, smiling at me even thought he does not know me.<\/p>\n<p>Ireland I really want to complain to you about the people my parents voted for, to protect me in any land and under any sky, and have failed to bring me back to you. Now I understand that you were not crying this rains with me but you were crying because of what the world holds for me<\/p>\n<p>One final wish, I beg from you, if I die away from you take me back from them to be buried in your soil to feel your goodbye tears.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ibrahim Halawa,<\/p>\n<p>Wadi el Natroun Prison<\/p>\n<p>29\/11\/2016.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n<strong>Ibrahim was acquitted of all charges and returned home to Ireland in October 2017. <\/strong>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reprieve.org.uk\/case-study\/ibrahim-halawa\/\">Learn more about Ibrahim&#8217;s case<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Dear Ireland, I really don\u2019t know what to say, I have been taken away from you for so long. But I miss you dearly. It\u2019s really out of my hands. I can\u2019t understand, I just can\u2019t understand why they have kidnapped me away from you. So young I was while you were teaching me &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/2016\/12\/08\/letter-ibrahim-halawa\/\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-update"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A letter from Ibrahim Halawa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/2016\/12\/08\/letter-ibrahim-halawa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A letter from Ibrahim Halawa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; Dear Ireland, I really don\u2019t know what to say, I have been taken away from you for so long. But I miss you dearly. It\u2019s really out of my hands. I can\u2019t understand, I just can\u2019t understand why they have kidnapped me away from you. So young I was while you were teaching me &hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/2016\/12\/08\/letter-ibrahim-halawa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Reprieve\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ReprieveHQ\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-08T12:22:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-05-29T15:17:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.reprieve.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Halawa.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@reprieve\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@reprieve\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/08\\\/letter-ibrahim-halawa\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/08\\\/letter-ibrahim-halawa\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"A letter from Ibrahim Halawa\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-08T12:22:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-29T15:17:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/08\\\/letter-ibrahim-halawa\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":445,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/08\\\/letter-ibrahim-halawa\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.reprieve.org.uk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/Halawa.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Update\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/08\\\/letter-ibrahim-halawa\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/08\\\/letter-ibrahim-halawa\\\/\",\"name\":\"A letter from Ibrahim Halawa\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/08\\\/letter-ibrahim-halawa\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/08\\\/letter-ibrahim-halawa\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.reprieve.org.uk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/Halawa.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-08T12:22:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-29T15:17:11+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/08\\\/letter-ibrahim-halawa\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/08\\\/letter-ibrahim-halawa\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/08\\\/letter-ibrahim-halawa\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.reprieve.org.uk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/Halawa.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.reprieve.org.uk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/Halawa.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/08\\\/letter-ibrahim-halawa\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A letter from Ibrahim Halawa\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/\",\"name\":\"Reprieve - fighting for human rights around the world\",\"description\":\"Reprieve is a legal action non-governmental organisation (NGO).  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