British Tourist to Face a Death Penalty in Egypt and Here’s Why
Turns out that a foreign passport doesn’t always warrant a get out of jail card in Egypt and sometimes the law must take its course, regardless of who it’s against. Especially when we are talking about illegal drugs and painkillers.
Laura Plummer, 33, from Hull, has been arrested after being detained for carrying 29 strips of Tramadol, and some Naproxen in her suitcase, after flying into a Red Sea beach resort, for a break with her Egyptian husband Omar. Plummer, claims the reason for her smuggling the pills into Egypt, is due to the fact that her husband suffers from back pain due to a recent accident and is unaware that the drug is illegal in Egypt.
Both are prescription pills are highly prohibited painkillers in Egypt and it is considered “drug trafficking” if you walk in with it while entering the country.
According to sources from The Sun, Plummer was kept for five hours at the airport without an interpreter before signing a 38-page statement in Arabic which she thought would make grant her, her freedom. She currently is being held in a 15ft by 15ft cell with 25 other women for the past month.
‘We’ve been told she’s facing either 25 years in prison or the death penalty. We’re beside ourselves worrying that they’ll make an example of her. Her mother Roberta Synclair said.
According to other sources from The Independent, her brother, James Plummer, said she had only brought a small amount of medication for her Egyptian husband, who she visits two to four times a year. “He thought she was doing a “good deed” by bringing the medication over to her husband.” He added.
In Egypt capital punishment is carried out by hanging. The state carried out at least 44 executions last year. Possession, use and trafficking illegal drugs can be punished with death, and best case scenario is if you are carrying a small amount then that would make it 25 years in prison.
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