TAC Joins Call for Immediate Release of Greyson and Loubani

The Toronto Arts Council joins the chorus of voices from the cultural and medical communities, calling for the immediate release of filmmaker and professor John Greyson and Dr. Tarek Loubani, who have been held without charges in Egypt for over one month.

Dr. Loubani and Professor Greyson have announced through their lawyers that they have begun a hunger strike to protest the arbitrary nature of their detention in by Egyptian authorities. The Toronto Arts Council and the Toronto arts community is concerned for the health and safety of these two Canadians and expresses our support for their expedient return.

John Greyson is an important and active member of the Toronto arts community whose work has been supported over the years by funding from the Toronto Arts Council. He is a highly respected, award-winning filmmaker; a tenured professor of film at York University; and a mentor to many young and emerging artists. Dr. Loubani and Professor Greyson were en route to the Gaza Strip, where Loubani is working on an academic and medical collaboration involving the University of Western Ontario and the al-Shifa Hospital. They were detained after seeking directions in a Cairo police station.

The Toronto Arts Council has signed the petition to free John and Tarek and has written directly to Egyptian and Canadian authorities calling for their immediate release. To support the calls for John and Tarek’s release contact: 

Canadian Embassy in Egypt: cairo@international.gc.ca

Egyptian Embassy, Ottawa, Canada
+1-613-234-4931 
+1-613-234-4935 
egyptemb@sympatico.ca

Find out more information about the case at www.tarekandjohn.com.