Egyptian authorities released on Monday Laura Plummer, a British citizen known in the media as the "Tramadol tourist".
The British woman was among many inmates released as part of Egypt’s celebrations of Police Day and the January revolution anniversary.
Plummer was released under the presidential pardon decree No. 52 of 2019, which also includes many prisoners after serving one-third of their sentences.
The British inmate spent around 14 months of her three-year sentence accompanied with a fine of 100,000 Egyptian pounds.
Plummer, 34, was arrested on October 9, 2017 at Hurghada Airport after being caught with 290 pills of Tramadol, a pain-relieving drug which is illegal in Egypt, but not in the UK. Back then, the prosecution decided to detain her for four days before referring her to the Red Sea Criminal Court.
The Telegraph newspaper expected the released tourist to return to the UK on Monday.
In the first trial, Plummer admitted to carrying the drugs in her bag at the Hurghada airport, saying she did not know the pills are not authorized in Egypt.
Upon the defense request, the court listened to the testimony of Omar Abdul Aziz, the tourist's husband, who explained that he and his mother suffer from diseases that require a painkiller and that his wife contacted him and told him she will bring the pills for this purpose.
The defense requested the court to clear Plummer from the charge as she did not commit the crime on purpose, or aim to sell or trade them. The request also mentioned that these pills are legally sold in the UK, and thus, the British citizen was not aware of their illegality in Egypt.
However, she was convicted over a stipulation that says "when a crime is committed with clear evidence, the law should be applied on all wrongdoers, whether they were aware of their crime or not. The ignorance of the law is not an acceptable excuse."
