29 August 2013
Some of Greyson’s students released this video to support the efforts to bring the pair home.
Sadly those efforts suffered a setback today when the Egyptian prosecutor failed to show up for a meeting with lawyers to discuss their situation.
Greyson and Loubani were arrested when they reportedly went into a police station to ask for directions. Canadian officials have said the “the men were in the wrong place at the wrong time when they were detained.”
Loubani, an emergency room doctor and teacher at the University of Western Ontario, has worked for years to build partnerships with medical colleagues in Gaza.
Greyson, an award-winning filmmaker and professor at York University, is also active with Queers Against Israeli Apartheid and has used his filmmaking skills to support the Palestinian campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions.
Typical of his generosity with his time and skills, Greyson and some of the students featured in the video above filmed and edited my June lecture in Toronto on Israeli pinkwashing.
Greyson and Loubani were swept up amid an ongoing crackdown by Egypt’s military regime which overthrew the country’s elected president in a 3 July coup d’etat.
Since the coup, hundreds of Egyptian civilians have been killed in indiscriminate attacks on protests and sit-ins by security forces and thousands have been arrested.
The video is part of an outpouring of often creative support from friends, colleagues, artists and civil society organizations in Canada.
Atom Egoyan
Director Atom Egoyan and producer and actress Arsinée Khanjian also appealed for the men’s release in this video:
“No valid reason”
“There is no valid reason for the two men to continue to be detained. Their government has vouched for them and asked for their release, and their credentials are easily confirmed,” the newspaper said.
For regular updates on the effort to free John and Tarek visit tarekandjohn.com.
