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Codepink Co-Founder Detained, Beaten, and Deported From Egypt

Medea Benjamin, of Codepink, was trying to get to Gaza through Egypt when she was held overnight and had her arm broken at Cairo airport.
Photo by Sasha Y. Kimel

Medea Benjamin, the co-founder of activist group CODEPINK, was trying to get to the Gaza Strip through Egypt on Monday. Instead, she was thrown in jail overnight, had her arm fractured by police officer, and was brutally deported to Turkey the next day. But Benjamin kept tweeting throughout her ordeal.

Benjamin, a United States citizen, was heading to Gaza to meet women’s groups, when she was arrested and detained at Cairo International Airport. “Help. They broke my arm. Egypt police,” she tweeted on Tuesday, before posting pictures of her “freezing” cell and the stale bread she was given to eat.

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Benjamin also revealed that a fellow inmate was refused access to a doctor.

This is my cell in Cairo airport — Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin)March 4, 2014

On Tuesday morning, she was forcibly deported to Istanbul, even though CODEPINK reported that Egyptian doctors claimed she wasn’t fit enough to travel.

“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,” said Benjamin in a statement.

“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.”

Only food for 5 women is dirty stale bread and dirty water pic.twitter.com/6YFwXm4KL0

— Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin)March 4, 2014

Benjamin’s detention is the latest incident in a recent surge of arbitrary arrests in Egypt, as part of the military’s widening crackdown beyond jihadist insurgents and Muslim Brotherhood supporters. In a growing climate of repression, detainees now include activists, journalists, critics of the regime, or foreigners caught in the fast-moving dynamics of Egyptian politics.

“She’s on a list of people prohibited to enter Egypt, “ Alli McCracken, a coordinator for the US-based CODEPINK, told VICE News. “We don’t know why.”

Benjamin was headed to the Gaza Strip along with 16 other female activists with the international delegation to meet women’s groups and provide solar lamps to women in Gaza on March 8, which is International Women’s Day. Benjamin has led several delegations to Gaza since the Israeli military campaign there in 2008.

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While Benjamin recovers in Istanbul, other delegates arrived in Egypt to continue their trip to Gaza. CODEPINK estimated 100 women from eight countries would join the delegation in Gaza.

But since the removal of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, Egyptian authorities have treated anyone traveling to Gaza with suspicion.

Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin heckles Obama over drone strikes on May 23, 2013.

Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood had close ties with the Palestinian ruling party, Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt’s authorities have accused Hamas of assisting insurgent groups in Sinai with weapons and training.

On March 4, the Egyptian court banned all Hamas activities and ordered to close its office in Egypt, Reuters reported.

In August, two Canadians, Doctor Tarek Loubani and filmmaker John Greyson, who were traveling to work in Gaza were arrested and detained at the high-security Tora prison. They were released after 51 days without any charges.

Wiki Thawra, an independent website that tracks all arrests and deaths since the January 2011 revolution, estimates that more than 21,000 people have been held in Egypt since Morsi’s removal. According to the website, only 2,590 of these detainees are members of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was designated a terrorist organization last year.

Wiki Thawra compiles data from official interior ministry data as well as civil society groups, but some human rights activists suggest the numbers could be even higher.

“Nobody knows the number of arrests,” Mohamed Zaree, program manager at the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, told VICE News. “There are a lot of violations committed during the detentions and trials themselves.”

Photo via Sasha Y. Kimel