– British tourist arrested for carrying painkillers in Egypt ‘told she faces DEATH PENALTY’:
A BRITISH tourist has reportedly been told she could face the DEATH PENALTY after being arrested in Egypt while carrying painkillers for her husband’s sore back.
She was detained by authorities at Hurghada airport in early October, and made to sign a 38-page statement in Arabic which she thought would result in her being able to leave the airport.
But instead she has been locked up, with her brother James claiming that the family has been told she could face up to 25 years in jail, with one lawyer even mentioning the death penalty.
Mr Plummer, 31, told The Sun his sister had been arrested for what he thinks the authorities in Egypt call “drug trafficking”, but said she had only brought a small amount of medication for her Egyptian husband who she visits two to four times a year.
Mr Plummer told the Press Association: “It’s just blown out of proportion completely.”
He said his sister, from Hull, just thought she was doing a “good deed” by bringing the medication over to her husband, and said she will be “completely out of her comfort zone” in jail.
“She’s so by the book, so routine, she just likes her own home comforts, watches Emmerdale every night or things like that, going to bed at nine o’clock every night,” he said.
“When they seen her, she’s like a zombie, they said.”
He said her hair is starting to fall out due to stress and he voiced concerns about how she will cope.
“I don’t think she’s tough enough to survive it,” he said, adding: “She has a phobia of using anybody else’s toilet, so let alone sharing a toilet and a floor with everybody else.
“That will be awful for her, it’ll be traumatising.”
Mr Plummer said the family feel “helpless” due to being in a different country, and said of his sister: “It’s awful for Laura … she’s not a tough person at all. She’s only small.”
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are supporting a British woman and her family following her detention in Egypt.”
Government guidelines on travelling to Egypt warn that some prescribed and over the counter medicines that are available in the UK are considered controlled substances in Egypt and can’t be brought into the country without prior permission from Egypt’s Ministry of Health.
Arriving in the country without this permission and necessary documentation can lead to prosecution under Egyptian law.
The advice adds: “Possession, use or trafficking in illegal drugs is a serious offence and can, even for small amounts, lead to lengthy prison sentences (25 years), life imprisonment or the death penalty.
“Those convicted to life imprisonment on drugs charges will normally spend the rest of their life in prison with no possibility of parole or pardon. Khat is illegal in Egypt.
H/t reader kevin a.
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