Canadian pair describe 'shared trauma' of ordeal in Egyptian prison
October 11, 2013
John Greyson and Tarek Loubani were beaten and kept in cell crammed with prisoners before finally being released this week.
Shortly after arriving at Egypt's notorious Tora prison, the Canadian film-maker John Greyson was beaten and kicked so hard that for the next week "there was a single bootprint perfectly etched on my back". His companion Tarek Loubani – a Canadian-Palestinian doctor – was subjected to the same brutal treatment. "We both went foetal to try to protect ourselves," remembers Greyson. "I was in pain for about a week."
It was not quite what Greyson and Loubani had envisaged when they arrived in Egypt on 15 August. The pair intended to remain only briefly in Egypt – their final destination was Gaza, where they planned to train and make a film about Palestinian doctors. Instead, they found themselves arrested during a crackdown on supporters of the ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, and spent the next 50 days detained without charge – most of it in a cramped jail cell shared with 36 other prisoners.
"There was no way you could sleep without touching your neighbour," said Greyson, of the conditions within their tiny 3-metre by 10-metre cell. "You had to co-ordinate with them when you wanted to roll over."
It was a nightmare that lasted until the early hours of last Sunday, when Egyptian prosecutors finally let the pair leave prison. It followed a high-profile campaign for their release – featuring a 150,000-strong petition signed by actors Ben Affleck and Charlize Theron – and finally intervention from the highest level of the Egyptian government. But even then their ordeal was not quite over. Still banned for several days from leaving the country, they were only allowed to fly home to Canada on Friday.
in full: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/11/canadian-greyson-loubani-ordeal-egyptian-prison