Media Releases
University of Toronto Statement regarding Tarek Loubani and John Greyson
August 26, 2013
TORONTO, ON — Amidst the chaos and conflict in Egypt over the last weeks, we have seen tragic loss of life and growing uncertainty about the long-term prospects for a stable democracy in that nation. This situation has recently come closer to home for those who work in Ontario’s universities. In particular, members of the University of Toronto community have learned with concern of the arrest without charges and subsequent imprisonment of two Ontario academics in Cairo. Tarek Loubani is an Emergency Medicine physician and professor at Western University, and John Greyson is a filmmaker who teaches film studies at York University and has been pursuing a PhD at the University of Toronto. The absence of charges and lack of any hearing or trial date has generated mounting alarm about their situation. The President of the University of Toronto has written to the Egyptian ambassador to express these concerns for the welfare of Loubani and Greyson, and to convey our disappointment that the transitional government has detained Canadian citizens – among others – without any charges or time-table for judicial recourse.