Ontario’s professors and academic librarians are happy and relieved to learn that John Greyson and Tarek Loubani have been released from an Egpytian prison. The two faculty members had been held –without charge or justification – for 50 days.
On September 28, 2013, OCUFA’s Board of Directors passed a unanimous motion calling for “immediate, strong, and decisive action” to secure John and Tarek’s immediate release. OCUFA also sent a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper requesting strong action, which followed a previous letter to Minister of Foreigh Affairs John Baird.
Greyson is a respected filmmaker and a professor at York University, and Loubani is an emergency room physician and a professor at Western University. The pair was arrested by Egyptian police on August 16th, while en route to a hospital in Gaza. They were held in unsanitary and cramped conditions, and held a two-week hunger strike protesting their imprisonment.
OCUFA’s letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper can be found here. For more the latest news and developments, please visit www.tarekandjohn.com.