A British woman jailed in Egypt for smuggling 290 painkiller tablets for her partner may be released in the next 24 hours under a presidential pardon.
Laura Plummer, 33, was sentenced to three years in prison in the seaside resort of Hurghada on Boxing Day for trying to smuggle tramadol pills, an opioid drug which is banned in Egypt, through the airport. She said that her partner, Omar Saad, needed them for his bad back.
Her family said she had received a pardon from President Sisi as part of an amnesty to mark Revolution Day, the anniversary of the Tahrir Square uprising, which began on January 25, 2011.
Her lawyer, Mohamed Osman, told The Times that the pardon had not been confirmed but he was confident she would be released soon. “I haven’t yet, as her lawyer, received any official notice from the government or the Ministry of Interior of her release,” he said. “But I can say I’m 95 per cent sure she will be released soon, based on these rumours, though nothing is confirmed until it happens.”
He said the prison had not yet received an official notification of her release and that confirmation was not expected today, but could come tomorrow.
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Ms Plummer, a shop-worker from Hull, was arrested on October 9 as she flew into Hurghada airport, on the Red Sea coast. She claimed she had no idea that the tablets were banned in Egypt or that she was breaking the law.
However, there is a substantial black market in painkillers and other prescription drugs in Egypt, and tramadol is particularly sought after as an opioid.
According to The Sun newspaper, Ms Plummer told her family she “couldn’t wait to be home ... I never thought this day would come. I’d given up hope.”
After her conviction, she was transferred to al-Qanater prison in Cairo, where her family have flown to greet her in anticipation of her release.
