The family of a Barry woman falsely imprisoned in Kuwait are expecting that she will return home in the coming days.

Sara Assayed, a 35-year-old animal rights activist from Barry, moved to Kuwait 15 years ago to teach English.

In February 2019, Ms Assayed was driving herself and a friend home from work when they were stopped by police and she was accused of having drugs in her car.

"They told her friend to get a taxi, and then they took her car somewhere, we don't know where," Ms Assayed's sister Sheree Conibear told Nub News.

"She was arrested on drug charges. Police searched her house and found nothing.

"Then after an hour and a half, a police officer returned with her car, which was then searched, and they found a tiny box of marijuana or hash.

"The police said that it was hers, and she had no idea about it."

"She wasn't allowed to speak at her trial"

As her sister was moved from prison to prison, Sheree and her family contacted the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the British Embassy in Kuwait, and local politicians, but struggled to get the help they needed.

"We managed to get bail with difficulty after four months, but then there was COVID. So, there was a whole year of lockdown and Sara's case kept getting delayed," said Sheree.

"She was returned to prison before her trial, and every time they transferred her between prisons, she was put in isolation for 14 days.

"The heat is 50 degrees there, and the conditions were awful. There were no fans, no blankets, no pillows, nothing at all."

At her trial in February of this year, Ms Assayed was found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in prison. But Sheree says the trial lasted less than 20 minutes and her sister was not allowed to present her case properly.

"We brought the girl that was in the car with her as witness, had a year's worth of history from her mobile phone provider, we had character witnesses," she said.

"They refused to hear any witnesses. The judge just pushed her papers to the side and sentenced her.

"She wasn't even allowed to speak."

An appeal brings new hope

On 1 June, Ms Assayed won her appeal in a higher court in Kuwait.

"The judge went through all the evidence this time and said there was nothing that she could be convicted on," said Sheree.

"There were many discrepancies in the evidence, from timings to amounts, to even naming people that weren't even in the country."

Ms Assayed was then transported to a deportation centre, to sign papers saying that she was responsible for her travel and to be deported before she was put back into prison.

But almost 30 days after she was told she would return to the UK, Ms Assayed remained in prison in Kuwait.

"We've been working for two years non-stop," said Sheree.

"When she was first arrested, the Embassy gave us no help. I've called the FCDO so many times trying to get help so many times that they threatened to take action against me.

"Amnesty International only get involved with political prisoners, they told me. Jane Hutt wrote a letter to Dominic Raab, but we received a very generic reply that he would not get involved.

"After her first trial, we asked the Embassy to request a fair trial, but they refused to get involved then too.

"Sara was among thousands of women at the deportation centre, who have been supported by their countries' embassies.

"Now she's been found innocent, why won't our Embassy help her? My mum doesn't sleep at night. The system has failed us."

Home at last?

Since sharing her family's situation Welsh media, Sheree says Sara's case has dominated newspapers in Kuwait; the pressure of which Sheree believes has led to her sister's release.

"We were informed by lawyers today that Sara will be on a flight in the next few days," said Sheree.

"I can't even imagine how her mental health must be. We've just got our fingers crossed that she comes home now."

Nub News has approached the FCDO for comment and is awaiting a response.