A U.K. woman arrested in October for bringing potent painkillers into Egypt has been convicted and sentenced to three years in jail.
Laura Plummer, 33, was arrested after authorities found her bringing 300 tablets of Tramadol, a powerful class C painkiller, into Egypt, the BBC reports. Tramadol is legal in the U.K. with a prescription, but illegal in Egypt.
Plummer said she did not know the drug was illegal in Egypt and was bringing the pills into the country for her partner, who suffers from back pain after an accident, according to the BBC. She made no effort to hide the tablets, which the BBC reports she obtained from a friend. (As a class C drug, the only legal way to obtain Tramadol, even in countries where it is permitted, is with a prescription — not from friends or family.)
Jayne Synclair, one of Plummer’s sisters, added that Plummer’s partner, Omar Caboo, did not know she was bringing the pills for him. “He did not even know she was bringing them,” Synclair told the BBC. “She was doing it to be kind. How can you be sentenced to three years just for being kind?”
More Must-Reads From TIME
- The 100 Most Influential People of 2024
- The Revolution of Yulia Navalnaya
- 6 Compliments That Land Every Time
- What's the Deal With the Bitcoin Halving?
- If You're Dating Right Now , You're Brave: Column
- The AI That Could Heal a Divided Internet
- Fallout Is a Brilliant Model for the Future of Video Game Adaptations
- Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time
Write to Jamie Ducharme at jamie.ducharme@time.com