To:
John Baird, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs
Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada
Wael Aboul-Magd, Egyptian Ambassador to Canada
We, the undersigned, ask the government of Canada to urgently assist in securing the immediate safety and release of Canadians Tarek Loubani, MD, and John Greyson, filmmaker, who were arrested in Egypt on August 16th.
Dr. Loubani is an emergency physician at the University of Western Ontario (UWO) and a member of Canadian Doctors for Refugee Care. He has worked extensively to provide volunteer medical care in conflict situations internationally and for refugees in Canada. Award-winning Toronto filmaker, writer, and educator, John Greyson, is a Professor at York University in the Department of Film.
Dr. Loubani and Professor Greyson were travelling to the Gaza Strip, where they are working on an international academic and medical collaboration between the University of Western Ontario and the main hospital in the Gaza Strip, the al-Shifa hospital. They arrived in Egypt on August 15th, and were held up from crossing into Gaza due to the conflict in Egypt. On the afternoon of Friday, August 16th, their contact in Canada received a call from Dr. Loubani, stating that: "we are being arrested by Egyptian police." Their whereabouts have been unknown since, and colleagues and family are extremely worried for their safety.
Conditions in Egypt are extremely dangerous with accounts of widespread military and police violence. According to Amensty International “unprecedented levels of violence have left more than 600 dead in Egypt”, further Amnesty also notes a “pattern of excessive and unwarranted lethal force used by the Egyptian authorities since the
25 January revolution”. More than 4,000 people have been injured in recent days.
We, the undersigned, ask the Canadian Government to continue to work with the Egyptian Embassy and officials in Egypt to ensure the safety and secure the immediate release of Dr. Loubani and Professor Greyson. Our thoughts are with the many people in Egypt who have been arrested, beaten and killed.
Sincerely,
[Your name]