Prison full of killers and jihadis
MISS Plummer will spend the next three years in cramped and squalid cells with Islamic State jihadis, murderers and rapists.
The horror of life in Qena prison cannot be understated.
Prisoners are routinely shackled to the bare walls of their 10ft by 8ft cells, with no air conditioning to relieve them from the stifling desert heat.
It is not unusual to see temperatures close to 50C (122F) in summer, and there is no electricity in the facility, which sits beside the Nile seven hours south of Cairo.
Armed guards punish inmates by locking them in darkness in solitary confinement for hours on end, sometimes days.
Those on death row are marked by wear-
ing red jumpsuits, while the buildings are plagued with rats and mosquitoes. Inmates must survive on a daily serving of bread and water, and the toilets are holes in the ground without any paper.
Miss Plummer’s family have been told they must bring her food, clothes and toiletries – but visits are only allowed once a month without much prior notice. The ordeal has cost the family £40,000 so far, and they fear there is very little money left.
Human rights groups say other prisoners housed there include members of the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic State.
One visitor described it as ‘dehumanising.’ Miss Plummer’s sister Jayne Synclair, 40, said yesterday: ‘Our biggest fear with this scenario has been confirmed – she will be sharing a tiny cell with Jihadi terrorists and rapists.’
Her distraught mother Roberta Synclair is staying in a four-star hotel in Hurghada, a beach resort city 139 miles east of Qena, where Miss Plummer was first arrested.
There are no direct flights to that part of Egypt at this time of year, and taxi journeys for hours across the desert are very expensive.
Her mother, who was too distraught to speak yesterday, will visit her in prison today to drop off food and clothes before returning to Britain tomorrow.