NOVANEWS
Dear Mr. Secretary Boris Johnson,
This letter may take you by surprise since I am neither a British citizen nor live in the U.K. However, after reading the sad story of a young British lady languishing in an Egyptian prison for over a month in the Independence UK and who may face the death penalty, I call upon you to demand her immediate and unconditional release.
Laura Plummer is a 33-year-old British citizen was arrested at an Egyptian airport for carrying painkillers (Tramadol and Naproxen) in her suite case for her husband who lives in Egypt and who suffered from back pain due to a car accident. The medicine was a small amount, legal to use in the U.K., and it was not hidden inside her luggage.
Ms. Plummer was asked by the airport officials that she would have to sign a document in Arabic, a language that she neither could read nor write. She assumed she will be free to leave after she signed a 38-page statement. Instead, she was taken to a 15 ft by 15 ft prison cell with one commode and she was held with 25 other prisoners.
Laura Plummer is being held on a Mickey Mouse charge of “drug trafficking” and she is suffering on a daily basis with barely enough food and water to survive. Laura has to sleep on the floor like the other 25 prisoners and they all have to share one toilet.
Following Laura’s arrest, her mom and her two sisters visited her in prison in Egypt and the family was distraught to the fact that they could not recognize her. Her family even said she looks like a zombie and is suffering hair loss due to stress. To add salt to the wound, the family was conned by a bogus Egyptian lawyer who ran off with £10,000 after being paid.
I should point out here that, in the past, Egyptian police were accused of raping anti-government protesters and having sexually assaulted both male and female pro-democracy demonstrators following their arrest. The International Coalition of Expatriate Egyptians has published the first report that document cases of rape and sexual abuse inside Egyptian prisons and police stations. ICEE made a submission to the UN Human Rights Commission and Amnesty International about the violations. Egyptian Interior Ministry refused to answer any questions to news organizations seeking comments.
In August 14, 2013, during a pro-democracy rally in Cairo, Mohammad Sultan, a US-born Egyptian, was shot in the arm, then arrested under trumped-up charges, detained for more than a year without trial, then he was sentenced to death. Mohammad spent 400 days on a hunger strike in the prison to protest his illegal detention. As he was hanging between life and death in jail, the Egyptian court let him go free and back to the US after he agreed to give up his Egyptian citizenship.
Having just read this story of the Muslim mother of five (ages 6-16) who spread ISIS propaganda on Facebook and who was spared jail for terror offenses by a British court, the judge was moved by the eldest son’s letter pleading with his judge to free his mom and to end the family’s suffering. I therefore decide to write to you about Laura’s story and by sharing this letter with one hundred news organizations.
I wish to impress upon you the urgency of Laura Plummer’s situation. I chose to do my moral duty towards my fellow human and a Christian if you will, just like the British judge showed mercy and compassion towards the Muslim mother and her five children in his court. Therefore, I am writing this about the dilemma of Laura Plummer and her family by urging you to fly to Egypt, call for a face-to-face meeting with Miss Plummer, and to demand her immediate and unconditional release.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Warm regards,
Mahmoud El-Yousseph
