Cairo mosque siege: Halawa sisters return home to Ireland

Ibrihim, Fatima, Omaima and Somaia Halawa were caught up in the Egyptian mosque siege in August

Three Irish sisters who were jailed in Egypt following a siege at a Cairo mosque have returned home to Dublin.

The Halawa family, from Firhouse, County Dublin, were caught up in violence in the Egyptian capital in August and four of them were detained.

Sisters Omaima, 20, Fatima, 22, and Somaia, 27, and their 17-year-old brother, Ibrahim, had travelled to Egypt for a holiday.

The sisters were freed a fortnight ago but Ibrahim Halawa remains in jail.

The family have said they do not know when the teenager will be released.

The three sisters arrived at Dublin airport on Saturday morning, having boarded a flight in Turkey.

They were greeted by their father and sister at the airport.

The Irish government had helped the family to campaign for their release.

Earlier this month, the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Eamon Gilmore, said he had expressed concerns to the Egyptian authorities that the Halawa siblings had been "kept in prison for almost three months without being charged with an offence".

The four family members were arrested after security forces stormed a mosque in Cairo.

The siblings said they were forced to seek sanctuary in the Al Fateh mosque in mid-August after violent clashes between supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi and the security forces.

They were subsequently jailed in Tora prison.