Egypt's president has pardoned a British woman who was sentenced to three years in prison for carrying 290 tramadol tablets into the North African country.
Laura Plummer, 33, who has been detained in Egypt since October, is set to be released this weekend, according to media reports.
"We can't believe it's over. We've prayed for this day since she was arrested," Plummer's sister, Jayne Synclair, told The Sun.
"We just want to get her home."
President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi pardoned Plummer along with a list of other prisoners as part of a "day of mercy".
“I never thought this day would come. I’d given up hope," Plummer reportedly told her family in an emotional phone call after receiving the news.
“It’s hard to believe and hasn’t sunk in yet.”
Plummer's family is certainly relieved. Previously, her sister expressed serious concern for her welfare.
"Laura isn't the strongest of people, she's on the verge of a nervous breakdown, covered in scabs," Sinclair said, The Telegraph reported in December.
"She's been bitten from head to foot in mosquito bites and she's like a ghost ... Her skin is translucent and the muscles in her legs don't work - they're like jelly."
On Oct. 9, Plummer arrived in Egypt to visit her Egyptian husband. She was detained at the airport after the large quantity of tramadol was discovered in her bags.
According to Plummer, the medication was intended to treat her husbands back pain.
Tramadol is a legal medication in many countries, but in Egypt, it is illegal for a private individual to sell the drug, according to CNN. Plummer was thus charged with drug possession and smuggling.
After being held in jail for several weeks, she was sentenced at the end of December to three years in prison and ordered to pay a fine of more than $5,600.
"For someone to be found guilty of drug smuggling they have to be aware that they are possessing narcotics," Plummer's lawyer, Mohamed Othman, told Reuters, criticizing the court's decision after the verdict.
"Laura did not know that what she was carrying was a narcotic. This is pursuant to that tramadol 50mg is a painkiller in her country, England. When she brought the tramadol, she believed it was a painkiller."
Her lawyers also said she misunderstood a question in court, giving a response that came across as a confession.
However, even the three year sentence was a small relief to Plummer and her family. Lawyers initially told the family she could potentially face the death penalty for the alleged crime.
Throughout the detention and trial, the British government worked to ensure Plummer's safety.
"We will continue to provide assistance to Laura and her family following the court ruling in Egypt, and our embassy is in regular contact with the Egyptian authorities," a spokesperson for the British Foreign Office said following the sentencing.
Tramadol is considered to be the most abused drug in Egypt and is sometimes used as a heroin substitute, according to The Guardian.
Last August, Egypt's drug control fund received more calls about tramadol than any other drug.