A recent news story, the matter of Laura Plummer arrested and
imprisoned for transporting a banned opioid into Egypt, has given me
to think.
The British reaction seems to have taken several strands, but one
in particular could be summed up as "Egyptian prisons are too horrible
for Our Brave Girls". Well then, if you believe that, why didn't you
complain about Egyptian prisons being too horrible for Egyptians? Do
you believe that Egyptians are somehow Not Like Us and their
suffering in prison is just fine and dandy? Why does it only matter to
you when a British person is imprisoned? What about the other
1,000-odd non-Egyptians in Egyptian prisons?
And if you think a three year sentence is excessive, why do you stand
up and cheer whenever your own government gradually insists on longer
or compulsory sentences, complain about criminals being "let off" with
light punishment, etc.? Do you really expect me to believe that you
will stop agitating for "harsher" sentences before the current
penalties have doubled (thus producing the same expected sentencing in
the UK as in Egypt for this offence)? You never have before.
And if you think "she didn't really mean to offend", why do you
applaud the increasing use of strict-liability offences, where no
mens rea (briefly, awareness that one might be doing something
criminal) is necessary for conviction?
Let's pretend for a moment that the people who believe this stuff
aren't simply racists, who would quite reasonably by their own lights
want a white woman let off but are happy for nasty foreigners to be
imprisoned and tortured. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt, and
just assume they haven't thought things through. How would they live
with themselves if they ever actually considered the consequences of
the policies they cheer for?
(All of which is quite separate from the ridiculous idea of declaring
some chemicals illegal, which pretty much everyone who's done the
research has now accepted has been a huge and costly failure, but
we're stuck with it anyway because it makes a lot of money for law
enforcement agencies, criminals, and suppliers of legal alternatives,
all of which can buy politicians.)
Comments on this post are now closed. If you have particular grounds for adding a late comment, comment on a more recent post quoting the URL of this one.