Three Irish and American peace activists deported from Egypt

international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Thursday March 06, 2014 01:45

by Justin Morahan

They were on their way to Gaza

Three peace activists, Mairead Maguire Ann Patterson and Medea Benjamin were detained in Cairo and deported

Mairead Maguire (Nobel Peace Laureate) and Ann Patterson of the Peace People were detained in Cairo for eight hours yesterday, Wednesday. They were deported, according to an e-mail from Ann Patterson received at 2.09pm on Wednesday.
No reason was given for the detention or deportation of the two peace activists.
They were on the way to Gaza for a Women's conference.
Ann Patterson had been with Mairead in Bili'n Israel in 2007 when Mairead was shot and both were gassed during a protest.

On Tuesday, Medea Benjamin an American activist and co-founder of Code Pink was also detained, assaulted and deported according to her own account in the Daily News of Egypt. She was on her way to the same conference as Mairead and Ann. She (Medea) was handcuffed so tightly that her wrists bled.
“They threw me down, put a knee on my back, and put two pairs of handcuffs on.” She says they pulled so hard on her arms that her shoulder was dislocated. The handcuffs were so tight that her wrists started bleeding, the paper reported.

I am writing to the Egyptian Embassy by e-mail this morning and protesting the detention and deportation of all three activists and the brutal treatment of Medea Benjamin prior to her deportation

http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2014/03/05/like-terrorist....dpuf

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/82119?&condense_comment...92681