Egypt pardons Briton jailed over painkillers
THE British woman jailed for taking illegal painkillers into Egypt was pardoned last night – but remained in her hellhole jail.
Laura Plummer’s family flew to Cairo as Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el- Sisi’s decision was announced. But they now have to wait for the interior ministry to arrange the 33-year-old’s release, a source in the president’s office said.
Mr el-Sisi pardons hundreds of prisoners a year, but rarely foreigners.
Miss Plummer’s father, Neville, said: ‘We just want her back. This three months has been hell for her and everyone.’ The shop worker from Hull is in AlQanatir prison, which has been described as ‘horrendous’, with reports of inmates being beaten.
In a recent phone call, she is said to have told her family: ‘I never thought this day would come. I’d given up hope.’ But an announcement on her freedom is expected today.
She has spent three months in jail after landing at the Red Sea resort of Hurghada, 280 miles south east of Cairo, in October to visit her Egyptian boyfriend Omar Saad. But airport security found 290 tramadol pills in her luggage. Although legal in Britain, it is banned in Egypt, and on Boxing Day she was sentenced to three years in jail.
Her family appealed, and a hearing to consider reducing her sentence was due this year.
But they also lodged a plea with Mr el-Sisi, asking him to use his power to pardon her.
Miss Plummer had told police she brought the pills because Mr Saad had a bad back. Initially, she faced the death penalty for drug smuggling, but this was changed to possession of an illegal drug.