Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I CAN’T DO THIS
» Drug Brit’s sobs in Egyptian jail » Mum tells of heartrending visit
THE British woman held in a hellhole Egyptian jail for carrying banned painkillers has sobbed to her mum: “I can’t do this.”
Laura Plummer, 33, was sentenced to three years after being caught with 290 Tramadol tablets in her luggage at the Red Sea resort of Hurghada.
Speaking after returning from Egypt yesterday, mum Roberta Synclair told the Sunday Mirror: “She’s devastated. It was heartbreaking to leave her.
“She kept saying, ‘I can’t do this, I can’t do this’.
“I just had to try and reassure her but she was saying it was horrendous. I told her she’ll just have to take it as it comes and stay safe.
“She’s very frightened. We don’t know where she could end up but they said they’ll try and find a place where they speak English.”
Laura was caught with the Tramadol pills, which are legal on prescription here but banned in Egypt, in October.
She said she did not know they were banned and they were for boyfriend Omar Abdul Azim’s bad back. Laura was held before appearing in court and being jailed on Boxing Day. The family hope she will be moved from the jail at Qena, near Luxor, to a prison in Cairo where conditions are reportedly better.
Roberta said they could not appeal until 60 days after the conviction, adding: “At the very least it looks like she’ll do five or six months. We just hope she gets a decent prison. She’s frightened, worried, in a state of shock. She’s lost everything, her job, her life. She’s missed Christmas and now she’ll spend New Year on her own in a cell.” Egyptian lifeguard Omar, who has a wife and two children, has admitted he feels responsible for her plight.
He said yesterday: “I’m the reason for what happened. My heart is absolutely broken.
“I had no idea she would bring Tramadol – I would have told her ‘Don’t bring it to Egypt’.” Shop worker Laura and Omar had an “Orfi” marriage two years ago, which is not registered with the state but lets them share a hotel room. Polygamy is legal for men in Egypt and she has met his legal wife.
Omar said: “She’s my wife and I love her. I will wait for her to come out.”
Roberta added: “I spent a few days with Omar when I was in Egypt. When she was convicted he was broken.”