Code Pink’s Medea Benjamin Brutally Arrested by Egyptian Police · Global Voices
Elia J. Ayoub

Famous US Peace activist and co-founder of Code Pink Medea Benjamin was on her way to meet up international delegates in Cairo before going to a women's conference in Gaza when she was detained and violently handcuffed without explanation by the Egyptian police, breaking her arm.
Reporting on Twitter, she said:
I'm being held in a jail at Cairo airport!!!
— 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 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 let 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
And just when we thought it couldn't get worse:
Help. They broke my arm. Egypt police
— Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) March 4, 2014
Her last messages of the day reveals that she is currently unable to send more photos:
.@ democracynow. Sending photos in twitter. Phone working
— Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) March 4, 2014
Trying to send more but not working
— Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) March 4, 2014
Medea was deported to Turkey where she spoke to Democracy Now‘s Amy Goodman:
During the interview, she revealed the severity of her injuries:
I’ve gotten two shots of painkiller, but it’s not enough. They fractured my arm, dislocated my shoulder, tore the ligaments. They jumped on top of me. And this was all never telling me what was the problem. And so, it was a very brutal attack, and I’m in a lot of pain.
Later, she explains what happened:
When I gave in my passport, I was taken aside, brought into a separate room, where I was held for seven hours without anybody ever telling me what was wrong. Then I was put into a jail cell in the airport, held overnight. And in the morning, five very scary-looking men came in and wanted to take me away. And I said, “The embassy is coming. The embassy is coming.” They were supposed to have arrived. Instead, they dragged me out, tackled me to the ground, jumped on me, handcuffed my wrists so tight that they started bleeding, and then dislocated my shoulder, and then kept me like that, grabbing my arm. The whole way, I was shouting through the airport, screaming in pain. Then the—I demanded to get medical attention. The Egyptian doctors came and said, “This woman cannot travel. She’s in too much pain. She needs to go to the hospital.” The Egyptian security refused to take me to a hospital and threw me on the plane. Thank God there was an orthopedic surgeon on the plane who gave me another shot and put the arm back in its shoulder. But they were so brutal, and, as I said, Amy, never saying why.
Medea also expressed her shock at her embassy's complete ignorance:
Some of the delegates, including Ann Wright, who had already arrived for the Gaza delegation, had been calling the embassy non-stop. The CodePink people in D.C. were calling the embassy non-stop. They were always saying, “They’re supposed to show up. They’re supposed to show up.” They never showed up. I was on the tarmac. The Turkish airline was forced to take me, but we delayed an hour while they were debating what to do. There were about 20 men there. And the embassy never showed up the entire time.
The full transcript of the interview can be found on Democracy Now