John Greyson and Tarek Lou- bani will face another 45 days in prison, as Egyptian authori- ties have decided to extend their detention period for the fourth time.
They have been imprisoned since August 16, and up until September 29, their detention was extended three times, each time for an additional 15 days.
News of the extension came only a day after Loubani and Greyson conveyed, through their lawyer, the conditions they have been subjected to during their im prisonment at Tora, Cairo’s main prison.
In a statement containing their first-ever comments on the ordeal, Greyson and Loubani said they were being held in “ridiculous conditions,” in a three-by-10 metre cell, shared with 36 other political prisoners, “sleeping like sardines on concrete with the cockroaches, sharing a single tap of earthy Nile water.”
They have since been relocated to a new cell, which is even smaller, and share it with six other prisoners. The pair has been on a hunger strike since September 16 in protest of their prolonged detention. Loubani, an emergency room doctor and Greyson, a filmmaker and professor at York, were arrested during the wave of violent clashes that swept over Egypt in the summer with supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi clashing with security forces, leaving hundreds dead.
Both Canadians were en route to Gaza; Loubani was to work at the Al-Shifa hospital, and Greyson was to explore the possibility of documenting a film about the work.
In the same statement, released September 28, they said, “We never planned to stay in Egypt longer than overnight. We arrived in Cairo on the 15 with transit visas and all the necessary paper to proceed to our destination: Gaza.”
The pair had decided to check out protests in Cairo’s Ramses Square, about five blocks from their hotel, after they were barred from getting across the border to proceed to Gaza because of the ongoing demonstrations around Egypt.
The statement outlines a vivid description of what happened next, suggesting the pair were being detained for what they did and saw in the midst of the carnage. The demonstrations had commenced peacefully, but conditions escalated dramatically, at which point Loubani heard calls for a doctor and “snapped into doctor mode…and started to work doing emergency response, trying to save lives, while John did video documentation, shooting a record of the carnage that was unfolding,” said the statement.
Between them, the pair saw over 50 Egyptians die, and later learned that the body count for the day was 102 people, made up of students, workers, professionals, professors, of all ages.
“That’s when we were: arrested, searched, caged, questioned, interrogated, videotaped, with a ‘Syrian terrorist,’ slapped, beaten, ridiculed, hot-boxed, refused phone class, stripped, shaved bald, accused of being foreign mercenaries,” read the statement.
Egyptian officials have yet to formally charge, or provide any reason for the ongoing detention of the Canadians, however there have been indications according to the Toronto Star that they have been targeted by authorities pursuing at least a dozen serious charges against them, including terrorizing citizens, weapons possession, and participating with members of the Muslim Brotherhood in an attack on a police station.
“The arrest stories of our Egyptian cellmates are remarkably similar to ours: Egyptians who were picked up on dark streets after the protest, by thugs or cops, blocks of miles from the police station that is the alleged site of our alleged crimes,” the statement added.
Lynne Yelich, minister of state for foreign and consular affairs, issued a statement on Sunday expressing her disappointment in the continued detention of the Canadians.
“Canada continues to press for a timely and positive resolution to this situation and, in the absence of confirmation of the charges, once again calls for their release,” said Yelich.
With files from the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail.
Mishall Sinha
Contributor
