Remember Code Pink’s trip to Gaza, which came to light when one of the (less savvy) participants begged me for money?
Well it seems to have hit a snag, with their aesthetically and morally challenged leader Medea Benjamin being jailed in Egypt!
I’m being held in a jail at Cairo airport!!!
— Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) March 4, 2014
@AlliMcCrack twitter only thing that seems to work in this Cairo jail — Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) March 4, 2014
.@tighebarry @AlliMcCrack @AnnWright46 @anni think Twitter might work in this Cairo jail. You getting this? — Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) March 4, 2014
.@nancymancias you getting this? I’m in jail in cairo
— Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) March 4, 2014
@codepink I borrowed one. Only twitter seems to work though
— Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) March 4, 2014
@AlliMcCrack good. Tell them I’m fine, and they can call me whenever on this number. 011 50567074.
— Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) March 4, 2014
This is my cell in Cairo airport pic.twitter.com/ogIaXTvJvh — Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) March 4, 2014
Only food for 5 women is dirty stale bread and dirty water pic.twitter.com/6YFwXm4KL0 — Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) March 4, 2014
I’m going to lose my connection soon so I’ll try again in a few hours @AlliMcCrack
— Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) March 4, 2014
I’m supposed to go w women’s delegation to Gaza via Egypt but egyptians put me in jail at airport
— Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) March 4, 2014
Freezing in Cairo cell. Guards call me “American”–American, do this. American, do that. — Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) March 4, 2014
Women in Egyptian jail cell with me moaning all night, sick. Guards won’t jet her see a doctor. — Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) March 4, 2014
Stuck in cold jail cell at Cairo airport gives new meaning to term “jetlag”
— Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) March 4, 2014
I was supposed to be greeting international delegates for trip to Gaza. Instead I am stuck in jail cell in cairo airport 🙁
— Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) March 4, 2014
It is not entirely clear why she was jailed, but it might have something to do with Code Pink’s chumminess with Hamas. According to Breitbart:
Israel Today points out that Egypt is now going after Hamas to assure another Muslim Brotherhood uprising cannot happen again. Additionally, Egyptian officials have already told the Islamist group it will be shutting down smuggling tunnels between the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip, Israel Radio reported Friday.
In any event, while orange may be the new black, at least in Cairo, pink is the new orange.
Update: She’s now claiming they broke her arm.
Help. They broke my arm. Egypt police
— Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) March 4, 2014
Update: Turkey, here she comes.
Confirmed by the US embassy in Cairo: @medeabenjamin deported to Turkey. Word from her is Egyptians broke her arm. media ?s: 860 575 5692
— CODEPINK (@codepink) March 4, 2014
Update: Official statement from Code Pink:
CODEPINK Co-founder Medea Benjamin Detained, Brutally Attacked and Deported from Egypt en route to Gaza with International Delegation of Women
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 4, 2014
Contact: Alli McCracken, CODEPINK National Coordinator, 860-575-5692, [email protected]
Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK Co-founder, 415-235-6517
CODEPINK Co-founder Medea Benjamin Detained, Brutally Attacked and Deported from Egypt en route to Gaza with International Delegation of Women
On the night of March 3, 2014, co-founder of the peace group CODEPINK Medea Benjamin was on her way to Egypt to join an international delegation of women going to Gaza when she was detained by border police in the Cairo airport, held overnight in a cell, and then brutally tackled (her arm badly injured), handcuffed, and deported to Turkey. During her time in the detention cell she had access to a cell phone, from which she contacted colleagues at CODEPINK about the poor conditions of the cell and chronicled her ordeal via Twitter. When the Egyptian police removed her from the detention center, they used such excessive force she sustained a fracture and torn ligament in her shoulder.
Calling from Istanbul, Benjamin gave the following statement: “I was brutally assaulted by Egyptian police, who never said what I was being accused of. When the authorities came into the cell to deport me, two men threw me to the ground, stomped on my back, pulled my shoulder out of its socket and handcuffed me so that my injured arm was twisted around and my wrists began to bleed. I was then forced to sit between the two men who attacked me on the plane ride from Cairo to Istanbul, and I was (and still am) in terrible pain the whole time.” Doctors in the Cairo airport said she was not fit to travel because of her injury, but the authorities forced her to board anyways.
She is currently in Istanbul, Turkey, receiving medical attention at a hospital before she returns to the US. It is still unclear why the Egyptians deported her. Medea’s colleagues at CODEPINK are appalled by the unnecessary use of force by Egyptian authorities.
In response to a call from the women of Gaza, Benjamin was traveling through Egypt to be a part of the CODEPINK contingent of an international coalition of 100 women traveling to Gaza to witness the hardships facing the 1.7 million residents, deliver humanitarian aid, and call attention to the need for a longer-term strategy to achieve peace and justice for Palestinians.
Benjamin has her phone and is available for interviews: 415 235 6517.
Who wants to interview her? Could be fun.
And this could also be fun:
Hey folks, you may have heard that Medea was detained and beaten badly by the Egyptian authorities while trying to enter Egypt to go to Gaza with a larger international delegation of women. She was violently deported to Turkey, where she’s now in the hospital until her flight back to the US on Wednesday. It’s heartbreaking to think of the wonderful peacemaker we all love being harmed in any way! It’s also scary to think about all the Egyptian activists (and journalists!!) who continue to languish in Egypt’s prisons indefinitely for speaking out against the new government. Medea being barred from going to Gaza also reminds us that the Palestinians remained trapped in Gaza as long as the Egyptian Rafah border remains closed or tightly controlled.Show Medea some love! Take a picture of yourself with a Get Well Soon message, and email it to [email protected] and/or tweet it at @codepink! Use the hashtag #FreeGaza on your message too! We’ll put all the pics we get in an album and share it with Medea when she gets home safely.
Post your pics in the comments.
