Montreal, January 27, 2014 — CJPME laments that three years after the massive protests that eventually toppled authoritarian president Hosni Mubarak began in Tahrir Square, democracy is still eluding Egyptians. According to a January 23 Amnesty International (AI) report, at least 1400 people had been killed in political violence since the military ousted elected president Mohammed Morsi July 3. AI says that Egypt has witnessed “state violence on an unprecedented scale over the last seven months.” In addition, on Saturday, January 25, 49 anti-government protesters were killed, and another 1079 were arrested, according to media reports.

Canadian-Egyptian journalist Mohamed Fahmy has been detained in the notorious Scorpion prison since December 30, 2013. Although his detention has been condemned by Amnesty International, Fahmy may now be facing charges. Please pressure the Egyptian authorities to immediately release Mohamed Fahmy and the other Al Jazeera journalists that are also detained with him.

Montreal, December 3, 2013  — CJPME urges Canada’s government and MPs to press Egypt’s interim government to rescind an anti-protest law severely curtailing freedom of assembly. The law, ratified November 24 by interim president Adly Mansour, obliges groups wanting to demonstrate to obtain seven separate permissions to protest publicly. It gives police the final say on whether a protest can take place and allows police to forcibly disperse even a legal protest if even a single protester throws a stone. It also bans overnight sit-ins. The law also stipulates harsh prison sentences for vaguely defined offences, such as attempting to “influence the course of justice” or “impeding the interests of citizens.”

Montreal, October 7, 2013  — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) joins other voices across Canada in celebrating Saturday’s  release of John Greyson and Tarek Loubani from detention in Egypt.  However, CJPME urges Canadian MPs to investigate the Harper government’s muted response to the arbitrary detention and brutal assault of the two Canadians. 

Montreal, September 16, 2013  — CJPME strongly urges the Canadian government to take stronger measures to press Egypt to release two Canadians—Dr. Tarek Loubani and York University film professor John Greyson—after the prosecutor yesterday extended their detention another 15 days. Today, it was announced that the two men had begun a hunger strike to press for their release. On transit to Gaza, the two were arbitrarily arrested on August 16. Loubani was going to Gaza to train emergency room physicians, and Greyson to work on a documentary film. The Egyptian police have yet to offer any evidence of wrongdoing, and neither Loubani nor Greyson have been formally charged with any offence.

Montreal, August 20, 2013  — CJPME is calling for the immediate release of Tarek Loubani, an emergency room physician from London, and John Greyson, a Toronto-based filmmaker and a York University professor.  Both were arrested on Friday, August 16, after walking to a police station in Cairo to ask for directions to their hotel. CJPME is extremely concerned that Loubani and Greyson are still detained in at Tohra prison in Cairo four days later, with very limited consular access. 

Tarek Loubani, a doctor from London, and John Greyson, a filmmaker from Toronto have been jailed in Egypt for more than 40 days. Prime Minister Harper has still not intervened, even though the two innocent men have not been charged, yet have seen their detention repeatedly extended. It is feared that they could easily spend two years in jail.