it is a matter of priority and the red line for palestinians the u.s. has increased pressure on its longtime allies saudi arabia to completely lift its blockade on yemen secular state rex tillerson added his voice to calls in the white house to allow food water fuel and medicines into the water and country aid groups are warning humans at risk of widespread famine britain and the e.u. have agreed on a deal allowing brags that negotiations to move to the next stage still has to be approved by the european parliament talks have stalled over citizens' rights the former president of georgia mikhail saakashvili has been recaptured in the ukrainian capital kiev authorities have put him on a wanted list after supporters helped him break free from police custody early this week is accused of receiving financial support from a group allegedly linked to the former president viktor yushchenko village u.s. president donald trump has declared an emergency in california and ordered additional aid to be sent to the region six wildfires continue to sweep across the southern part of the state the fast running fires are forced more than two hundred

thousand people to leave their homes over the past five days about five hundred buildings have been destroyed and ten thousand hectares of land burned the flames are being fanned by strong dry winds which have started to die down but those are the headlines the news continues here on al jazeera after talked about a zero statement thanks for watching but for now. this is a serious debate up front assisting. the summer of two thousand and thirteen the political temperature in egypt has reached fever pitch. twelve months after being elected the army headed by the fatah to c.c.

the supposed to overthrow president mahmoud morsi and terminate one some formal the revolutionary changes that have worked and in the water pressure group of president mubarak. protesters for and against president morsi took to the streets thousands supporting democracy and speaking out against the military were rounded up and phone in jail no distinction was made the difference youngun all as well as foreign citizens were booked behind bars. one of them was ibrahim helal an irish teenager born in dublin another time he was only seventeen years old the irish embassy initially assured him and his family he will be on the first plane out to the promised but that was not so. instead he was kept in jail for four years where he says he was routinely tortured both physically

and psychologically. we're. in october this year after intense lobbying by his family and friends back home he was finally released. now a free man ibrahim helal one talks to al-jazeera. about his incarceration egypt's notorious prison system. in two thousand and thirteen in june i was just finished my exams i went to i went to egypt afford to buy a few days i went to see my extended family because my dad had this and it will ritual we go and see extended family over there so that's really my purpose of why i went there in the very start. of course rub a square with the coup was taken place there's a mall there and there was a cinema there that i was there with my few friends of mine before dick who

actually took place and before protests took place as it was two days before it and then i actually went to tahrir square where the pro pro pro pool was taken place after and i actually wanted to have a view of both sides so i can base a fair judgement on both i didn't agree with what was going on with the with that is where basically asking for a president three overthrown without a ballot box which for me is not the mock recy so bit by bit listen in though i understood the basics of the mock receive that any seventeen year old will understand if you explain to him my friends later on were shot dead in in there and take who protests. two of them were actually very close to me the ones i was with in this intimate they were shot dead so that's when i actually started to take place in the protests and it was before i thought that most when i was arrested it was just before that by a week and a half so this is when i started to get you know ok what's happening what's the what's going on and. i went on stage and i spoke about democracy and that was where

you went to egypt without the in terms from the thought of getting involved in the politics but because of what happened that's what we're here for because of what happened and if freedom of speech should and no one should die for the freedom of speech especially when there are two of my close friends and they died for such basically it's a value ok that we value but it was they were innocent and they didn't hold anything that was a trap that egyptian government for them to kill ok so tell me how did you end up getting arrested after it by after that i must occur when a lot of people died more people died bodies were burned him mosques where were burned down as well i went to two you know there's another mosque this is a modern. ask me it's far from it's about i think twenty minutes far away from our square because this is where everyone was going down to say this is wrong what happened is wrong and it's against the mockers it's against any human rights it's

against every you know every possible human action that can be taken against another human being so we went down to object to the and we peacefully protested but then the military shot at us opened fire and this is when we took refuge in a mosque for twenty four hours things are tough in the mosque because we you know bay started putting electricity on us they started putting. water food anything you know supplements for us to keep us going so we went there we stayed in the mosque for twenty four hours the next day they broke into the mosque and we were arrested with their tear gas bullets and this is when i took a bullet inside the mosque. my sisters were separated from me my three of them their funny moments me or were also arrested but i didn't know they were arrested so i thought they were dead at the moment. i went to get a bandage for my hand from from. out there but today for me to get a bandage over my hand i had to lie and say that it was the brotherhood that shot

me with that with the bullet for me to actually get him some treatment because i was forced by another officer to say that so this is when when when i really after i got my my treatment i was put in a in a in a tank and from the to the tank in a military tank i was moved to a military prison was made for you know officers who run away from the military and basically soldiers so it was illegal for us to be held there at the very start . if you haven't you haven't made any phone calls by them there's no lawyer no no no no lawyer nothing we were asked at the moment that he was only going to take us for five minutes to check on us if we if we had any you know any legal problems with egypt if we were you know criminal criminal record. words if we if we broke a visa for instance if you had your irish pocket i had an irish passport with me to have because it was my only identity as a seven and a seventeen year old that i had especially in egypt like so we went to the military

camp and i told her i saw my sisters but i only saw fighting men and women and this is when i started to cry because usually the tree of them i together. and so may i wasn't there so i said ok she's definitely not there from you know the bullets and someone picked up and brought it to another place because from far away my sisters were crying as well and i was just at the emotion i didn't understand what was going on why they crying was someone out there so i started to cry and then the officer took me in and he pulled me aside my sisters and i started to say explain to him why are we here why why we're here he said oh you're only going to be here for just a few hours we're going to check on you again and you're let go and then i was put in a cell my sister's report in a different place and of course a separation that i had to fear over my sisters for twenty four hours a day basically they were there and it was just fearful for me that anything could happen to them because all the stories that were going on in egypt and i couldn't you know i didn't understand environment in egypt for four three girls to be take

it two girls to be taken away later on some way i was brought brought to them so that's when i saw some way later on but i was put in a cell that usually it takes if you pack it would take sixty people we're put one hundred twenty people in the. tell me before before you get into those conditions i want to know as a seventeen year old. like you are you were born and raised abroad going back to egypt what were your thoughts when you were arrested did you think that as the officer said this would just be for a few hours and you'd be released that as an irish citizen would you know you would be subjected to the same treatment that maybe the egyptian protesters were being subjected to what was going through your head when i am at the at the moment when i was arrested when he said we. he's going to take us for five minutes actually believed he was going to take us for five minutes because i didn't understand that all government will hold someone in prison for no reason just the concept of the didn't go into my head because you are proven innocent until you know otherwise

until you're proven guilty so for him to take me longer then you know maybe to day ok if you want to check on me it's his right if he wants the government to have a security check on me if i'm attracted to government or not so basically for him to keep me that long was a shock for me and it was my first time away from my family i was put in with people i don't know with conditions i don't know in a government i don't know if far away from my home so for me to stay there it was very very hard for me and was very shocking and when was the first time you received any sort of either legal assistance or consular assistance from the from the hours from the first time you saw somebody who could actually represent for how you so actually what happens what with the prosecution system in the start is you get four days and then after four days if you're presented on a prosecutor and then if you're a news you hear a news you for fifteen days so that five minutes went on for four days so after

four days we discovered ok that the prosecution office is coming but then after he came i didn't have a lawyer i wasn't allowed in there we said we want to know your we said can we call the embassy they said no so they took my irish passport they said for me to get further consider visits so i knew something was going on it wasn't right because if they need to take my passport and for me to get consular visits in the future i'm going to stay here a bit but i didn't know that it was going to be the fifteen me so i heard that we were nude renewed fifteen days so we took four days illegally without being presented on a prosecutor in the very start anyway so i after by about six days is when i first saw the embassy they came in for a visit they said they were going to get us on the first plane back to ireland because this is the whole system in egypt is just wrong at the moment and there's nothing against us proven so we're probably beyond under next for. to the island and and we were in to move from another military come from one military come to another military come and that's when i'm me and my sister separated they went to a lot of which is the women's prison in egypt is the largest women's prison and i

went to and i stayed in that military company as i was injured and no prison would take an injured injured person until he's cured because they don't want the responsibility of anything happened to him so everyone tries the responsibility on each other so i stayed in that military camp with ten or fifteen other injured injured guys who were with me and then when i remember you transferred to prison i was transferred to prison when the sixth of october protesters were arrested so we were there in military come the rest of the guys went to an actual prison we stayed there for fifty days sixth of october came more prisoners came in from the sixth of october protests later on they were about three hundred people four hundred people we moved to unmarked prison which is there in egypt in america as well there. we were we went in there and we were beaten of course and tell me what what happened explain to me the condition when you were transferred to prison what happened there there are stories of where the welcoming parties so. it's called it's called the

welcoming party what happens is we are of course we are put into you know the convoy car tires as well the big metal ones we are where we are we are put it takes about thirty full we are again we are put about double that sixty sixty three people in there a lot of people were fainting a lot of people were losing consciousness and you know some had heart problems some or all people so we were scared and actually actually people started dying so we were banging on the cards like hello take at least the injured people or the sick people or treat them but no no one answered a soul the door was open very fast they said c'mon c'mon down down down down and then we were brought down to the door of the prison we're going in and you would they have any any bar that they can. get into the how you're beaten with that one strike just just as a count so it would be like fifty six fifty seven that's one bar and then you go in you're told to strip your clothes totally off you take your clothes off they take

all your equipment on your belongings and they they set them on fire they burn them and then you have this very long passageway which to you it's a passageway that you think will not end at all. it's basically soldiers on the right on the left and they all have a weapon of some sort a whip a bar a metal chain anything they can get into hand even if it's as simple as a stone they were trying to trip and you have to start running through that wire and through everything's coming down that you. and then you reach the end of course everyone's trying to hold on to you some are trying to get cover off you so there's all of this remake of all of this unique idea you have to start running and start running until you reach the other end when you reach the other end you're presented in front of the officer you have to face the ground not i eyeball the officer at all i just want to say that entering the prison in egypt it's the same for everyone with the welcome party it's some sort of seventeen year old irish cared. to go through something like this you're just described both physical and psychological

torture and that starts off about from the moment you went in front of it's from the very start you know they don't even check your ages so if they if they were to check my age they would've found i was a seventeen year old as a minor so i wouldn't even be allowed in this prison in the start i should have been sent you know sent back to to the military come so i can be released because i'm under age but then of course they don't even check papers so i was taken to a cell straight away with with any normal person who was who is the same age as me anyone who's all the older or so i was taken to a cell but it was very frightening for me because why is this all happening to me i am innocent went and the minute i entered the prison doors i knew i was going to stay longer i was put in a cell no electricity no no windows no ventilation the door didn't open at all until they just opened to give your food and they closed the straightaway and it was it was basically closed but every day seven am i would wake up to the noise of screaming and torture i don't know where was what was coming from but there was

about at least thirty individual men screaming like like so hard screaming from torture later on i discovered that they have to all your in your innate in front office and for that officer and while doing that they have to they have to be beaten up as a psychological torture and again as a mental control of your. sister fatima was also arrested by the egyptian military but she was released on bail a few months later and return to ireland once home she began campaigning to lobbying tirelessly to free her younger brother ibrahim it was a long process is a long four years and the campaign at the start was quite slow and it gradually built up and those up. i think in a way it was just it was really hard because it's well it's something that's so close to home and when you're campaigning for that. sometimes you know you want your privacy but at the same time you can't have that because it's something that

you need to make public and you need to show than just this that has occurred and specially because it's someone that's quite dear to you and you know ultimately brings our younger brother and there's been so many injustice that is happening that's happening to so many other people that at some stage you do you do one and you do think what if it were him doesn't get up you know and throughout the process there's been a lot of help a lot of people who've backed gave us that support they've been the backbone of the camping you know and whenever we lose that hope that push us towards especially you know parish community have been great you know everyone has been great so it's it was great to have that support and that kind of allowed us to keep continuing on even when we as a family lost that hope. in europe and around the war i think i know it's the hardest thing to ever go through when you when you find someone loved and you feel trapped in the able to do anything but i think the ultimate message that and it's really important is to never give up and to keep pushing through because if i think what they want you to do or what the regime is

in this to do is to allow you to break apart but what's really important is to keep pushing keep you know keep to go through the journey it's the hardest journey one of the hardest journey anyone could endure but at the end there is light at the end of the tunnel and you know for us even though it was a long four years process we saw that light and i'm sure for so so many others they will ultimately see that. tommy the type of people that you're sure it sells for you get all the imprisoned you get all diverse pretty diverse people you sure was a part where you were in the same saws some of our critiques some of our disorder there were cars with i was with the better of course peter greste there and i was with them for a long time and then i was with other journalists a bill of a hit on me some he saw i was i was of seen diverse people you seen journalists doctors presidential consultants and you know some of the presidential team some of a lot political a lot up to normal citizen who has basically you can be a farmer

a normal day worker we could call what was the most difficult experience or some argue that you're in during your time in jail i was beaten in front of my mom because i want to than an extra she heard a rumor because in prison visits every week so for her to hear something about me and want to check up on me should visit me that week and then she can't be able to hear anything or know anything about me for the next week so she heard a rumor about me so she came a week later to hear my ok she heard i had something was going on with with my brain that i was you know i was in hospital my brain wasn't functioning well so she asked for two minutes extra i was getting five minutes a visit with wire and a meter a meter between me and my mom and then wire her side and you know she has to scream and tell me what's wrong and you have guards listening to your story guards interrupting you so your five minutes is basically gone in news saying nothing so she wanted two extra minutes and i was like crying mom and i held on to the bar and

they were dragging me and while they were dragging me they beat me up and i lost consciousness and i will keep in the hospital but then after it up not by far i had the trial that was meant to be my sentence trial and then it was it was in june two thousand and fifteen and i was proponent so when i was postponed i was like ok this is deafening open and my mom is my mom feels bad i feel bad my whole family. but i haven't seen my dad or sisters for four years or from family because if they can egypt they will definitely be arrested they my sisters will lead to released on bail so if they came back to egypt they would have been arrested at that moment to my hardest moment was is prison really going to end i'm going to stay here for the rest of my life away is this going to be my life and it's basically you have to live in an prison environment that the end of the day could turn into a jungle where you have to survive basically oppression is to survive on your own if there's a vibe any condition that can be thrown the trip after that my mom got cancer so i was like i have to be released if i'm not released right now something will

definite happen to me because she's far away in ireland she went back to ireland she had to get treatment i was in prison i didn't know what was going on in the head knowing contact with them at the moment at that time so i was very very worried about. what kind of toll does that take on you when you're thinking about it now i mean you're reliving the stories but at the time how do you get through just a normal day i will be honest with you that suicide crossed my mind but i just i had to push through it because. i tried i tried to fight for myself and tried to fight the anger that was in me and because i was seen the better side of humanity why did it take so long for the irish government securities there was other foreigners who were released before there was the american system hamas what. other do nationals or just foreigners who were released why why did it take four

years to secure your release the prime minister here defeated in pressure egypt enough politically but yet again island is is a small country it's not as politically strong as astri or america or the other or kind of or any of the other countries but yet i felt there could be more done my sisters felt there could be more than peter was released because you know he had a lot of media pressure on him at the time with the one forty law it became to me and they said it doesn't apply to me even you know if you read the papers it applied to me as a much as a play to peter later on. i mean the mass trial i was four hundred and ninety four you know defendants in a trial. a lot of them where we were used there's tree big trials in egypt and i and another so we felt that those three cases were using were used as political cards to pressurize the muslim brotherhood into giving up because they are such big cases and to release all of them would be would be

a political game so we felt there was many aspects to it and you can only put one line and say this is way i wasn't released because of the but do you feel like the irish government could have done more for you i feel the irish government could have done more and the very start but when the prime minister was changed then the government was changed i was released because my family worked very hard in the company and they worked for years for a company as a sister starting on her own and then with what the rest of my sisters and then my dad my mom the irish people listening you know limbaugh in an m.e.p. and my lawyer makin a mistake international reprieve all of these you know gathering in that. and so these organizing help me was very effective with me at that at that time and especially through prison it helped me psychologically a lot but the pressure yes. definitely but the feeling just needed a bit more moment to go back to studying but one of the things that sustained brought him in jail were his memories of ireland's beautiful landscape especially this hilltop not far from where he went to school like this is where we meet as

friends and as some peter who waited for years to be reunited with their classmates i found the real awkward i haven't seen this guy for years what do i say what you do but it was natural like when i saw it wasn't like i was gone for that long felt like it was just a weekend difference like you know it felt like he was gone for a week and then i saw him for a first time obviously there's a lot of reporters there which is. it would but once once i saw everything that's natural like it was ok we went out for dinner like two days after that but yeah. it was natural those four years they're not like any four years ever maybe and probably the time of the best years of anybody's life when you're growing up and i mean for you how do you feel or how did you how did you imagine it would have impacted them when you're from hugely did things that have happened for years like don't leave unsaid when the final year of college even outside of education like

full driving license things i just a things you go to from like the end of your teenage years the adult hood and he's missed out on all the so there's four years of like develop in the lake just livin life studies i missed out on which is awful to think of so the things maybe that you would have taken for granted naturally but absolutely just mean so much more absolutely like you competent like a sentence like a quick conversation four years worth of living like developing a living and just doing things like. he's missed out on this they'll just four years of prison. but this fight his suffering brahim insists his time in jail made him stronger despite the darkest of moments and the torture he gained something invaluable in the process i look at the bright side of it that yes if i didn't go to prison i wouldn't have seen all the torture that happens i wouldn't have seen all the you know violation to human rights that's happening in egypt i wouldn't

have understood all of that in a hundred years if you were to give me it so for me to be able to gain that experience was very helpful for me tell us what are you trying to do in order to get back some sort of. normal kind of aspect your life to sit with mom and have a laugh and have a smile we have had been so long so that for me is a lot my family are helping the me cure with a lot of counseling i will smith start get probably counseling because all the flashbacks that are happening with me my g.p. just doesn't recommend it right now at the moment but seeing my friends and going out and live in freedom yet a lot of time i just think of the oppressed people are left behind and that's what i think will never be solved within me until they are released. of auctioneer a lot of time a portrait of you point. to to to cherish freedom because there's so much in life that i've been treasured more.

kingfish indulge your five senses. a daring road trip across west africa on a mission to redefine a continent too often misrepresented. the weapon of choice to digital cameras. it was sold one of the new african for dug up deal takes on the rainy season on these quest for the perfect even as story of creative government run the invisible war this month this time on al-jazeera. al-jazeera where every you.

the international campaign to abolish nuclear weapons has been awarded the nobel peace prize in an exclusive interview with the winning delegation from the award ceremony in oslo al jazeera asks whether banning these devastating weapons could finally lead to complete disarmament on al-jazeera. without general salim would come out have to use a stern warning at the u.n. .