By Melina Demetriou
THE nightmare for Maria Antoniades, the 19-year-old Cypriot girl who was held in an Egyptian prison from July 25 to last Monday is finally over, but how quickly can a teenager get over such an experience? Not easily, says Maria.
Last night Maria finally slept in her own bed in Nicosia after having spent one month in a Port Said jail. But, she told the Cyprus Mail that the grim experience had left a scar on her soul. “It was like someone slapped me and I fell down, and now I have to get back on my feet again,” she said.
Maria returned to Cyprus yesterday morning after the charges against her for allegedly trying to smuggle 3.5 kg of hashish out of Egypt were dropped.
The Egyptian authorities released Maria after investigations showed that the substance she was carrying was not a controlled one, but was a harmless herb called mallow.
Maria, physically and psychologically exhausted, arrived at Larnaca Airport yesterday morning with her mother and her lawyer. Upon her arrival, she avoided saying much to the media waiting at the airport.
But later, speaking from her home, she described to the Cyprus Mail her time in the prison. “We were fifteen women in one cell — the youngest one was 15. People treated us well.
“We slept every night on a blanket on the floor, there were no mattresses. Some women were there for not having paid their bills or for sleeping with men while not married to them.”
Maria said she did not care at all about people talking behind her back. “I know everyone talks about me right now, and some not with sympathy. But if someone knows me and knows what is in my heart and soul and what kind of person I am they will not judge me,” she said.
Maria said she would stop relating to the “bad companies” who “got her into trouble”. She said she now planned to attend a college course on childcare and nursery teaching.
Maria’s mother said she found it strange that the Egyptian Attorney-general had ordered that Maria be released from prison at 8pm on Monday because the prison always closed at 3pm and no one went in or out after that time.
In Cyprus, the police drug squad took a three-hour statement from Maria as soon as she arrived home. But a police spokesman said there was no case against Maria in Cyprus since the Egyptian authorities had dropped all charges against her. The police could not say why the Egyptian authorities could not tell hashish from mallow for about a month
Maria Antoniades’ lawyer, Iacovos Avraamides said on Tuesday that the “Egyptian authorities were convinced of Maria’s innocence”.
Her father, Marios, who collected Maria and her mother at the airport, said he thanked God that his daughter’s adventure was over.
