Imprisonment, Release, Detention

"The Egyptian authorities were being fairly co-operative with the two. People in the Cairo embassy were in contact with them on a regular basis, they could bring in medical help. The two got pretty good local legal assistance ... they seem to be trying to work the system as well as they can. The basic dynamic at work here is that the Egyptian system is a system that is under extreme stress, and it's subject to the political system."
"The rule of thumb is that anything a Canadian will do in Canada, they will do in a foreign country. If you look at any given time, there are about 1,800 to 2,000 Canadians in a foreign jail. The majority of them relate to drugs, and then it spirals out from that; assault, murder, rape. And you get robbery, fraud, all of those things crop in in these cases."
Gar Pardy, former Canadian diplomat, retired

news.nationalpost.com -- John Greyson left; Tarek Loubani right

Palestinian-Canadian emergency room doctor Tarek Loubani and filmmaker-producer John Greyson are being charged with fairly serious offences in Egypt. They claim they were innocent bystanders, brought to the scene of a mass protest through simple curiosity, then impelled by human decency to respond when cries for medical assistance came to their ears and they responded to aid the injured in a scenario of violence between protesting supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Egyptian military.

They were in Egypt, but they had meant Egypt to be a transit point. They were en route to Gaza where Dr. Loubani planned to spend some time teaching medical techniques to doctors at a Gaza hospital, and Mr. Greyson meant to film the proceedings. Because of violence in the Sinai where Salafist Islamist Bedouin, Muslim Brotherhood supporters, and al-Qaeda militias are attacking Egyptian police and military, the crossing into Gaza was closed. Leaving the two men marooned.

Not the most far-seeing of plans, to be certain; to enter a country in the turmoil of civil unrest through a change in political order bringing the population into mutually opposing conflict. A recipe for scene changes as swiftly as the Muslim Brotherhood is able to get their supporters out on the street creating havoc, resentment and violence. And they, simply two Canadians unaccustomed to history's trajectory in the Middle East, there as spectators.

They were arrested on August 16 on suspicion of being Brotherhood supporters, on suspicion of taking part in the protest, on suspicion of inflicting violence against the military, and doubtless other suspicions as well. They languished for weeks and months in squalid prison conditions, thrown in with other prisoners, and aghast at having to share their crowded cells with rats and cockroaches, most unpleased at the unceremoniously bad treatment they received. So they embarked on a hunger strike.

And the Government of Canada, through its mission in Cairo sent along diplomats skilled in intervention and the Foreign Affairs Minister became involved, and Egyptian authorities more than busy with the chaos they are coping with since the removal of former President Mohammed Morsi have had to consider its ongoing good relations with Canada. With that in mind the two men were released, and they made speed to leave the country, not realizing they were on a 'no fly' list, so they were detained.

While investigation on the criminal charges lodged against them continues. And they must remain in Cairo to wait out the process. It will be interesting on their return to Canada to read further about the activities of these two dauntless world travellers, eager to expose the blackguard-activities of the single democratic country in the region, adrift in a sea of dictatorships, kingdoms, sheikdoms and theocracies, where violence is always on the horizon when it isn't virally present and actively pursued.