[Al Ahram] The co-founder of US-based anti-war group Code Pink... a U.S. anti-war group. The group describes itself as
a women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, stop new wars, and redirect our resources into healthcare, education, green jobs and other life-affirming activities.It was founded in 2002 by Jodie Evans, Medea Benjamin and some of the other usual antiwar suspects. Its website lists hysterical allegations of US war crimes, and states that thousands of civilians were killed in Fallujah in 2004. Maybe it was millions. Benjamin was a 2000 candidate for the U.S. Senate on the Green Party ticket. She lost...
said Tuesday that Egyptian police detained her at Cairo's international airport when she tried to enter the country en route to the Gazoo Strip and treated her roughly, fracturing her shoulder as they handcuffed her before deporting her.
Egyptian officials denied Medea Benjamin was assaulted, saying she had refused to leave despite being told that the border to Gazoo was closed because of military operations in the area.
However,
there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened...
other members of the same delegation of women activists heading to Gazoo were allowed into Egypt, and it was not clear why Benjamin was singled out for deportation.
Speaking from Turkey, where she was deported, Benjamin told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named she was roughed up by Egyptian airport officials and security agents, who declined to explain why she was barred from entry, telling her only that she was on a blacklist.
When she refused to board a plane to Istanbul without first meeting with US embassy officials, the 61-year-old Benjamin said security agents wrestled her to the ground, sat on her back and yanked her arms behind her.
"They put [on] extremely, extremely tight [plastic] handcuffs," she said. She said it was then that her shoulder was dislocated and that a doctor later reset it but told her it was fractured and that a ligament had been torn. She said the police dragged her across the airport to a plane for Istanbul.
"It was as if I was some kind of crazy terrorist," Benjamin said.
Benjamin was held in the Cairo airport for nearly 14 hours, half of the time in a cell for deportees.
US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said consular officers in Egypt were in contact with Benjamin. "Due to privacy considerations, we can't provide additional details, but I can assure you that our consular officers in Egypt did provide all of the assistance necessary," she said.
Benjamin was heading to the Gazoo Strip as part of a delegation of women activists to express support for the impoverished territory, subjected to heavy restrictions by Israel and Egypt. Benjamin said she had obtained a visa, had coordinated with the Egyptian embassy in Washington and the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, and that the delegation had coordinated with Egypt's foreign ministry regarding their visit to Gazoo.
Egypt's foreign ministry front man Badr Abdel-Ati said Benjamin had a visa to Egypt but that officials told her the Gazoo border was closed. "She refused to return on the same flight," Abdel-Ati said.
Another member of the women's delegation, Anne Wright, arrived in Cairo after Benjamin and was allowed into the country without any problems. Wright told AP that around 20 other members of the 100-member group were already in Egypt.