World
British Tourist Sent To Notorious Prison With ISIS Jihadis After She Was Jailed For Having Painkillers
Published
8 years agoon
(Via Daily Mail)
Egypt has reportedly defied the British Foreign Office by sending tourist Laura Plummer to the notorious Qena prison after she was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment yesterday.
Laura, 33, fell to the floor after being handed the jail term by an Egyptian court over powerful painkillers found in her suitcase.
Stunned, the woman from Hull sobbed before slumping to the floor.
‘I thought I’d be freed – I thought it was the end,’ she sobbed.
Laura escaped the death penalty for transporting the opiate Tramadol in her luggage at the start of a holiday. However, she was told she would still be locked up.
Today her sister Jayne Synclair revealed the Foreign Office intervened to block Laura being sent to the ‘dangerous’ Qena prison.
But after turning up to visit her daughter at a jail in Cairo her mum Roberta Synclair, 64, discovered Laura had been moved 150 miles to the notorious hell-hole.
Jayne, 40, said: ‘It’s really underhand – my mum went to Cairo to where they were told she would be but when she turned up she wasn’t there.
‘They have slyly taken her to where the British Foreign Office told us she would never be placed – but the Egyptian authorities have already moved her there.
‘Our biggest fear with this scenario has been confirmed – she will be sharing a tiny cell with jihadi terrorists and rapists.
‘I honestly dread to think. Laura won’t survive a day in there – let alone three years.
‘She won’t even make it through that – I can’t believe they’ve even still sent her there.’
The jail is situated north of Luxor and Jayne is fearful her sister won’t make it out alive.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: ‘We are continuing to provide assistance to Laura and her family following the court ruling in Egypt, and our embassy is in regular contact with the Egyptian authorities.’
Describing the conditions in the Qena prison, Jayne said: ‘I’ve seen pictures and if you kept a dog in there and the RSPCA saw it – you would lose your dog. It’s honestly THAT bad.’
She said the family will be expected to pay for Laura’s food and will only be able to visit a maximum of once every two weeks.
Jayne said the family’s Christmas – and year – has been ruined following the sentencing of Laura.
She said Laura is covered in mosquito bites, had a scabby face and her hair is falling out.
Jayne said: ‘Laura has got three years, but we have got a life sentence with this – our family will never be able to shake this off.
‘We come from a privileged background so we did not need the money, her ticket was £500, she had £1,500 and she had £3,500 in her bank.
‘There was nothing on the travel guide website when visiting Egypt that says you cannot take Tramadol into the country.
‘The evidence was so overwhelming in her favour and yet she still got three years.
‘Her solicitor told us that he was expecting to be freed and allowed to leave – but we think she was made an example of.’
Jayne confirmed Laura’s shop assistant job in Princes Quay in Hull has been kept vacant until she returned from her Egypt hell hole.
She added: ‘Laura isn’t the strongest of people, she’s on the verge of a nervous breakdown, covered in scabs.
‘She’s been bitten from head to foot in mosquito bites and she’s like a ghost.
‘Her skin is translucent and the muscles in her legs don’t work – they’re like jelly.
‘That’s why she had to be seated during the court hearing.’
Ms Plummer said, after her sentence: ‘Everyone was saying how strong my case was and that it was only a matter of time. How can this be happening? I can’t do three years here, I’m so frightened, I haven’t done anything wrong.’
Shop worker Laura, from Hull, was arrested after she was found to be carrying 290 Tramadol tablets in her suitcase, a painkiller which is legal in the UK but banned in Egypt.
Ms Plummer’s family, who have described her as ‘naive’, said she was taking the tablets for her Egyptian partner Omar Caboo, who suffers from severe back pain.
But now a judge at a preliminary court has sentenced her to three years’ imprisonment and ordered her to pay a fine of 100,000 Egyptian pounds (£4,205).
Ms Plummer’s sister Jayne Synclair told Sky News today that her sister – who she described as an ‘absolute mess’ – will have to wait 60 days before she can appeal.
She said: ‘What’s going to happen in those 60 days? What’s going to happen to her? She thought she was going to come home. It’s a living hell.’
Ms Synclair said the Egyptian justice system has ‘sentenced her whole family’ as they are all ‘in a state’ worrying if Ms Plummer will ever get out.
Last night, Ms Plummer was moved to a police holding cell next to the court in port town Safaga.
Later, Ms Plummer was told she would be transferred to Qena, 150 miles away, in just a few days, The Sun reports.
Yesterday, her lawyer said Ms Plummer had ‘accidentally’ confessed in front of a judge after reportedly misunderstanding a question.
Ms Plummer’s family previously claimed she was suicidal after sharing a 15ft square cell with 25 women inmates.
It has also been claimed that staff at the jail – which is on the outskirts of the city of Hurgharda – have shown little sympathy for what the Egyptian media are calling the ‘Tramadol Tourist’.
Mr Caboo was described by witnesses at the court as being ‘very sad’ after the sentence was delivered, while Laura cried so heavily that her mother had to calm her down.
Speaking after the sentence, her visibly distraught mother, Roberta Synclair, said: ‘This is not fair. She’s done it in all innocence.
‘She brought [the drugs] to help someone, to help a family.’
She added: ‘She’s the kindest person… I was worried about her before, [when she was] in the police station. I’m even more worried now she’s in actual prison with real criminals.
‘I feel sick – I’m so frightened for her.’
She has now been transferred to a police station, from which she will be sent to jail.
The sentence, however, can be changed as the case progresses through the Egyptian legal system.
It is expected to take a minimum of one month for the second stage of the case to begin.
The family said her lawyers lodged an immediate appeal.
Ms Plummer’s sister, Rachel, said their mother Roberta was ‘devastated’ by the sentence.
She said the family was trying to find out more details about what happened in the courtroom today.
She said: ‘My mum’s obviously devastated. She’s out there by herself.’ She added that she did not know whether the appeal would be heard today.
She said: ‘We’re just hoping. Even half of that would be better. Anything less than three years. She doesn’t deserve that.’
Ms Plummer’s MP Karl Turner said the ruling had come as a devastating blow to her family but he was hopeful that good sense would eventually prevail.
He said her case had been raised with the Egyptian authorities by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and the Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt.
‘I am hopeful that good sense will eventually prevail,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s The World At One.
‘This is a damning indictment actually of the Egyptian authorities in the sense that good sense and fairness certainly hasn’t prevailed in this case.
‘This is a decent woman who has made a terrible mistake who shouldn’t be incarcerated in any prison, never mind an Egyptian prison.’
Neville Plummer, Laura’s father, said his daughter is ‘on the verge of a breakdown’ after the sentencing.
‘The family are all absolutely devastated for Laura. It has been very distressing for everyone involved, but we have got to stay strong for Laura,’ he said.
‘The last time I spoke to Laura was two days after she was arrested.. To be honest, I think she was sentenced on the day she was arrested.
‘This has been drawn out and dragged on and on, and in a way a line has now been drawn in the sand and things can only get better.’
‘We have now got to stay positive for Laura,’ Mr Plummer said.
‘I will leave no stone unturned, and will let no money stand in the way of getting her the justice she needs.
‘She pleaded guilty to the trafficking when she did not even mean to plead guilty that is not justice, that is an injustice.
‘I will never give up with the help. It is a very sad day for the family, at what should be a happy time of the year.’
Mr Plummer praised the work of the lawyers and legal teams who had represented Laura during the hearing.
He also said Hull East MP Karl Turner had been very supportive of Laura, and was continuing in his work to help the Hull woman.
Mr Turner said: ‘I am hopeful that good sense will eventually prevail.
‘This is a damning indictment actually of the Egyptian authorities in the sense that good sense and fairness certainly hasn’t prevailed in this case.
‘This is a decent woman who has made a terrible mistake who shouldn’t be incarcerated in any prison, never mind an Egyptian prison.’
Yesterday her lawyer said she had ‘accidentally’ pleaded guilty during a hearing.
Her mother Roberta Synclair travelled to Egypt for the Christmas Day hearing.
Her lawyer Dia al-Bassal said Ms Plummer was asked yesterday: ‘You are accused of smuggling and possessing Tramadol to Egypt?’
She then replied ‘yes’, with the judge ensuring the clerk recorded she had ‘confessed’ to the crime.
But when her translator explained what the question was, she denied being guilty of the charge.
Mr Bassal told The Telegraph: ‘She meant that she is admitting that she had the Tramadol, but not admitting of being guilty.
‘The judge jumped to the conclusion that she confesses before clarifying that she understood the question and this is worrying.’
Ms Plummer then reportedly wept in frustration, stressing ‘it’s not fair’.
Her lawyer will submit an explanation today emphasising that she meant to say she had the drug with her but did not intend to sell it.
Her sister Rachel Plummer said the judge adjourned the case for a day because of Laura’s condition.
She said: ‘She’s sleep deprived, she’s visibly nervous and upset.
‘She’s answered some questions wrong because she’s not understanding them, she obviously can’t think straight.
‘You can imagine the pressure – this is her life.’
She said their mother and Mr Caboo were denied access to the hearing as their driver took them to court late.
MP Karl Turner told Sky News yesterday’s hearing was adjourned so that Ms Plummer could find another interpreter.
He said: ‘Apparently something was lost in translation, the defence lawyer wasn’t confident that Laura was understanding the questions first of all, and the interpreter wasn’t correctly translating what Laura was saying in her answers.’
Mr Turner said: ‘The evidence is pretty clear that she didn’t know the drug was banned and she was taking it out there to help her boyfriend, who has come up with the evidence that he does suffer from a severe back problem.’
The Plummer family has previously said she had no idea that what she doing was illegal and was just ‘daft’.
They said she did not try to hide the medicine, which she had been given by a friend, and she thought it was a joke when she was pulled over by officials after arriving for a holiday with her partner.
Mrs Synclair said her daughter was being held in terrible conditions in a communal cell with no beds, sharing with up to 25 other women.
She said she looked ‘unrecognisable’.
Ms Plummer is being held in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada, where she was arrested at the airport on October 9.
Her family has been told that she could face up to 25 years in jail, with one lawyer even mentioning the death penalty.
Yesterday her lawyer claimed the price of her plane ticket could set her free.
Mohamed Othman said that a plane ticket shows she did not intend to sell the 290 Tramadol tablets found in her suitcase because she paid twice as much for her flight as the drugs are worth.
Othman called the plane ticket a ‘key piece of evidence’.
He told The Sun: ‘For someone to be found guilty of drug smuggling they have to be aware that they are possessing narcotics. Laura did not know that what she was carrying was a narcotic.
‘It is illogical that she was dealing in Tramadol.She had only 320 pills – even the plane ticket is almost double the price of those pills.’
Plummer wept in court as she appeared in front of a judge on Christmas Day.
Christmas Day is a normal working day in the Islamic country, and the shop assistant from Hull appeared in the dock handcuffed.
Miss Plummer’s mother Roberta Synclair and Mr Caboo arrived late to the courtroom and stood outside.
Mr Caboo, speaking outside of court, was convinced Miss Plummer would be freed.
He told MailOnline: ‘I am sure Laura is innocent. She did not bring the Tramadol for selling or trading.
‘I am sure she will be freed. She did not intend to do smuggle or trade.’
When Miss Plummer was arrested on October 9, she signed a 38-page document written in Arabic as she thought it would grant her freedom.
It led to her being locked up and she has already spent ten weeks in prison sharing a 15ft square cell with 25 women inmates.
Last month, her mother Roberta Synclair said: ‘She did not realise what she was doing’.
She said Ms Plummer made no attempt to hide the medicine, which she had been given by a friend, and she thought it was a joke when she was first pulled over by officials when she flew into the country for a holiday with Mr Caboo.
Europe
Populist Warning: Hungary’s Nationalist Fortress Falls
Published
3 days agoon
April 12, 2026
In a stunning upset on April 12, 2026, Hungarian voters delivered a crushing blow to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party after 16 years of defiant nationalist leadership. The opposition Tisza Party, led by Péter Magyar—a slick former insider turned “change” candidate—stormed to victory with around 53% of the vote and a projected supermajority of 138 seats in the 199-member parliament. Orbán conceded defeat, calling it “painful,” as record turnout hit nearly 80%. What was sold as a grassroots revolt against “corruption” and “illiberalism” looks far more like a coordinated elite operation to drag Hungary back into the EU’s suffocating embrace. This isn’t just a Hungarian story; it’s a flashing red alert for every nation fighting to preserve its sovereignty against globalist machine politics.
The real story behind this result is a classic elite betrayal of working families who once rallied behind Orbán’s unapologetic defense of borders, traditional values, and resistance to endless migrant invasions and Brussels diktats. Magyar’s Tisza outfit, dressed up as “centre-right” and “pro-reform,” promises to “bolster the rule of law” and unlock frozen EU billions—code for surrendering Hungary’s hard-won independence on migration, family policy, and foreign affairs. Orbán built a bulwark against demographic replacement, gender ideology, and Ukraine war escalation that threatened to bleed Europe dry. Now, with high turnout fueled by anti-Orbán mobilization and possible foreign-backed campaigns, that wall is cracking. They—the Davos crowd, EU bureaucrats, and their media allies—painted Orbán as an authoritarian boogeyman while ignoring how his policies protected Hungarian workers from the cheap labor floods and cultural erosion devastating Western Europe. This shift reeks of the same globalist playbook we’ve seen time and again: undermine leaders who put citizens first, install pliable figures who prioritize “European values” over national survival.
The consequences for everyday Hungarians—and the broader populist movement—could be dire if this new regime follows through. Expect a rapid pivot toward open-border policies lite, accelerated EU integration that funnels sovereignty to unelected officials in Brussels, and a rollback of pro-family incentives that kept Hungary’s birth rates from total collapse. Hungarian families already squeezed by inflation and energy costs from green fantasies will face more “reforms” that benefit multinational corporations while eroding national identity. On the world stage, this weakens the America First alliance; Orbán stood as a rare European voice skeptical of forever wars and mass migration pacts that hurt American workers too. A pro-EU supermajority in Budapest hands globalists a propaganda win, signaling that even resilient populists can be toppled through relentless pressure, funding, and narrative control. For the U.S., it’s a reminder that our own battles against Big Tech censorship, bureaucratic overreach, and demographic swamping demand eternal vigilance—Trump’s return notwithstanding.
Patriots must treat Hungary’s fall as a cautionary tale, not a death knell. What needs to happen now is a fierce counter-mobilization: expose the foreign influences and elite capture behind Magyar’s rise, double down on securing borders and sovereignty wherever populists hold ground, and reject any “moderate” surrender that trades short-term EU cash for long-term national suicide. America First means learning from this—strengthen election integrity, rally working-class voters against cultural Marxism, and back leaders who refuse to bend the knee to globalist overlords. Hungary showed that high turnout can be weaponized against defenders of the nation; we must ensure ours delivers victories for citizens, not Davos. The fight for Western civilization isn’t over, but complacency invites exactly this kind of betrayal. Time to wake up, organize, and push back harder than ever before.
In a bold and decisive move that has sent shockwaves through global energy markets and geopolitical circles, President Donald Trump has effectively declared the Strait of Hormuz under American control. What was once Iran’s chokepoint for extorting the world’s oil supply is now being transformed into the Strait of America—a vital maritime artery secured by U.S. naval power, free from Iranian tolls, mines, and threats.
The announcement came swiftly on April 12, 2026, following the collapse of high-stakes peace talks between the United States and Iran in Islamabad, Pakistan. With no agreement reached on Iran’s nuclear ambitions or its destabilizing activities, President Trump took to Truth Social to issue a clear directive: “Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz.”
This is no mere threat. U.S. Central Command has confirmed the naval blockade will commence operations on Monday morning, targeting vessels that have paid illegal tolls to the Iranian regime. Mines laid by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are being cleared, with American warships already demonstrating freedom of navigation through the passage. Trump has made it explicit: no ship paying tribute to Tehran will enjoy safe passage on the high seas.
From Iranian Stranglehold to American Resolve
For decades, the Strait of Hormuz has been a flashpoint. Roughly 20% of the world’s oil and significant volumes of liquefied natural gas have passed through its narrow waters, giving Iran outsized leverage. During the ongoing conflict that escalated earlier in 2026, Iran mined the strait, attacked vessels, and began charging exorbitant “tolls” for passage—effectively holding global energy supplies hostage. Shipping traffic plummeted, oil prices spiked, and the world watched as a rogue regime attempted to dictate terms to the international community.
President Trump’s response has been characteristically direct and unapologetic. He has repeatedly set deadlines for Iran to reopen the strait, threatened strikes on Iranian power plants and infrastructure if demands were ignored, and now followed through with overwhelming naval force. “We’re putting on a complete blockade,” Trump stated. “We’re not going to let Iran make money on selling oil to people that they like and not people that they don’t like.”
This move echoes historic assertions of American maritime dominance. Just as the U.S. Navy has protected sea lanes in the past—from the Barbary Wars to modern freedom-of-navigation operations—Trump is reclaiming this critical chokepoint for free and fair passage. Allies and neutral nations reliant on Gulf oil are being quietly encouraged to support the effort, though the United States has signaled it is prepared to act decisively on its own.
Epic Show of Strength
Critics may wring their hands over rising oil prices or the risk of escalation, but the reality on the water tells a different story. U.S. forces have already sunk Iranian mine-laying vessels, cleared paths through the strait, and demonstrated that American naval power can enforce order where diplomacy failed. Iran has issued warnings of a “strong and forceful response,” yet the U.S. Navy remains the most formidable fleet on the planet—equipped with advanced destroyers, aircraft carriers, and overwhelming technological superiority.
This is the Trump Doctrine in action: maximum pressure, zero tolerance for extortion, and a clear message that America will not be bullied by adversaries who weaponize global trade. By securing the Strait of Hormuz, the United States is not only protecting its interests and those of its partners but also reasserting leadership in a region too long plagued by instability.
Oil markets reacted immediately, with prices surging on the news, underscoring the strait’s enduring importance. Yet long-term, a secured passage under American oversight promises stability—free from Iranian mines, arbitrary tolls, and attacks on commercial shipping. The “Strait of America” is more than a provocative nickname; it represents a strategic reality where the world’s most important energy corridor operates under the protection of the world’s preeminent naval power.
As operations unfold in the coming days, the world will witness whether Iran chooses confrontation or finally accepts that the era of unchecked aggression in the Gulf has ended. President Trump has drawn a line in the water—and the U.S. Navy stands ready to enforce it.
In the end, this is classic Trump: turning a crisis into an opportunity for American strength. The Strait of Hormuz, long a symbol of vulnerability, is becoming a monument to resolve. Welcome to the Strait of America.
Today in our current body politic we are inundated with the word FASCIST! The history of the word goes back to the early 20th century with Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. These were fascist dictators. Over the years there was also Saul Alinsky who applied certain tactics to radical left wing activism. Ridiculing someone with fascist and other slanderous put downs were part of the psychological warfare against political opponents. If you are aware of Saul Alinskys’ 13 Rules for Radicals, you will be able to apply it to today’s political discourse. I am a strong believer in knowing your history, helps you understand your present, and enables you to predict the future.
If you follow politics, you will see that some things are done repeatedly from a playbook. These political strategies are used and are tried and true as the Rules for Radicals. These are used over and over because they work, they are successful. When something works you keep using them until they cease to be effective. Certain things can manipulate human behavior and that’s why they are so effective in politics. You are influencing a mass of people, and people like to be accepted into the herd and peer pressure comes into play to make you acquiesce to the current climate. Racism is a great example. No one wants to be called racist. So, calling someone racist puts them on the defensive and isolates them. So, in addition to fascist, racist is used in the left wing demonization of political opponents.
But back to fascism, there are the tell tale signs of political manipulation in today’s political environment. Conservatives will be frequently called far right. They will be frequently called authoritarian. They will also depict deportations as racist and trying to enforce a racial purity. The word autocracy will also be in the pot of slanderous gumbo. Putting all these things together are part of the definition of a FASCIST. This is why those specific words and terms are used over time. These are used to paint a picture of a dictator in the unassuming minds of the public. The word fascist is used deliberately, although in no way shape or form is President Trump a fascist, but reality does not matter in the left’s political world. Another rule for radicals is if you push a negative long enough and hard enough it will break through and be taken as the truth.
Once these rules are recognized you become aware of the manipulation, and this strange political dance becomes increasingly understandable. The ridiculous slander starts to make sense to the political strategist’s mind. I would think why would a person say something so ridiculous, stupid and untrue? Then, when I go back over the Rules for Radicals and communist tactics it makes sense and gives me a much better understanding of the madness.
One of the main rules is: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it.
This is exactly what is being done with Donald Trump. They go after a person, not a corporation. Personalizing it increases the focus on the target unambiguously. Another rule that goes right alongside this is: Ridicule is a man’s best friend. If you are watching the lamestream media (which is dying) you will notice incessant ridicule of the current POTUS. This is by design. This is also why the president has decent poll numbers and not outstanding numbers like he should have that would normally come from his monumental achievements. So, these are many of the reasons that you will see outright lies and vicious slander. It has many functions but all supporting a political slight of hand. Driving a president’s poll numbers down, isolating him, making him toxic, thus degrading his support. This works because many do not pay close attention to the small and /or big lies that are told in the media every day. We must note that there is a method to the madness.
Hillary Clinton was personal friends with Saul Alinsky. She wrote her honors thesis on Saul D. Alinsky. She was not in lock step with all his theories, but he offered her a job while she was in college before she went to Yale University Law School. So, there is ample reason to believe she really took these rules to heart. She served as Secretary of State under President Barack Obama who was a community activist. Community activism was largely based on Saul Alinsky Rules for Radicals. It was to manipulate the public image and opinion on whatever the political issue of the day was. I would ask my Democrat left leaning friends: before Barack Obama was a junior senator from Illinois, what did he do? He was a community organizer or community activist. What did a community organizer do? They generated discord in the community to push for or against a certain political issue. They organized marches and protests. You see the number of protests that are currently happening. Now you understand it is not just for an issue but to get the top news media to get said protest on air to sway public opinion. Visuals are more important than the substance of the march. When these protesters are interviewed many are severely inarticulate and many have only a vague idea of why they are there. But they have the visual and that is the goal. Mission accomplished. The purpose of protests from the left are always the same. But you will see the media will not cover the protests from conservatives in the same way that they cover the protests from leftists. Perfect example let’s take January 6th. The media and the left drone on and on about January 6th like if it were the devil himself had come up straight from hell. And to this day this is the holy grail of leftists’ complaints. One riot. While they ignore the hundreds of riots from BLM, Antifa, Occupy Wall Street and others. Mind you they are responsible for HUNDREDS of riots, billions of dollars of property damage to businesses, hundreds of police injuries, deaths, arson and damage to government property and the attempted murder of police. But they will memory hole all of that and proudly yell, but January 6th though!
Fascism, is used by fascists, to paint their political opponents as such. Projection. Accuse your opponents of what you are doing or are already guilty of. The Democrats demonstrated their hypocritical fascist stance during COVID. Take this shot or lose your job. Close your business or be arrested. You cannot go to church. You cannot visit your elderly relatives in the hospital even if they were dying in hospice. Many lost the last few precious moments with their loved ones because of Democrat Fascist policies. This is what fascism looks like. Lie to the public and tell them you will have immunity once you take the shot. Lie. You cannot transmit the disease once you take the shot. Another lie. We will take two weeks to bend the curve. Lie. We don’t know where the disease came from, BIG LIE! So, when you see the leftists saying something that is demonstrably ludicrous, know they are using their fascist playbook.
Michael Ameer
News@11
BUY NOW – The Black Trump Supporter: The Reawakening Of a Nation
Populist Warning: Hungary’s Nationalist Fortress Falls
Trump’s Reverse Psychology to Expose Zionism
Strait of America
Watch the Water: Iowa Water Investigation
