Prime Minister Stephen Harper: Tarek Loubani

Tarek Loubani: Johns humour and sense of absurdity along with his courage in combining art with political activism make him a truly unique individual. As most Canadians know, John was arrested with Dr. Tarek Loubani as they were in transit through Egypt on their way to Gaza. Tarek is a Palestinian refugee who arrived in Canada at the age of 10 and made good as a doctor. Instead of living the good life, he has devoted himself to serving others. Tarek spends his own money every year returning to Gaza to train emergency room personnel. John was along to film, according to The Star. There is an unprecedented consensus across the political spectrum, from Rob Ford to Naomi Klein, demanding their release. From all reports, Foreign Minister John Baird and his staff are working hard to assist them in jail and demand their release. More than 450,000 people have signed petitions . Hundreds of letters of support have been sent to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and to Egyptian authorities. Amnesty International has issued an alert. The Toronto International Film Festival and filmmakers Atom Egoyan and Sarah Polley took time out in the middle of the festival to raise the profile of the Free Tarek and John campaign to an international level. There are moving videos on YouTube, a tumblr site, a Facebook page , a website and mountains of postcards and I first met John Greyson, now in an Egyptian prison, in the 1990s when he called me to ask if I would like to play a red blood corpuscle in his brilliant AIDS musical comedy Zero Patience . The shoot was in the pool of a downtown community centre. When it became clear we would be in the pool for a few hours, I asked, John, can I wear my glasses? He put a finger to his chin, looked a little perplexed and said, I dont see why a red blood corpuscle cant wear glasses. Turning to one of his camera people, he asked, Do you? We all burst out laughing. Thursday is the 41st day that John and Tarek are in an Egyptian jail for no reason. It is also the 10th day of a hunger strike they began to protest their incarceration. Under Egypts odious emergency law, people can be held without charge for up to two years. No one should be arrested and incarcerated without cause but the extraordinary character and ability of these two men as well as the injustice of their incarceration has inspired the tremendous campaign waged for their release. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.