John Greyson and Tarek Loubani, the two Canadians jailed in Cairo, were fortunate in being freed. Greyson, a Toronto filmmaker and Loubani, a London, Ont., doctor were arrested August 16 after they went to checkout anti-government protests in Cairo.
They were detained without charges, beaten and “housed in very cramped conditions, sleeping on concrete with cockroaches.” The protest was by supporters of ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi.
These are not the first Canadians jailed overseas without any just cause and they won’t be the last ones. Over the years, several Canadians have been imprisoned in overseas countries and even now there are other Canadians, who are languishing in jails in other countries.
The onus of freeing such Canadians falls on the federal government which has to act diplomatically so as not to offend the host government. Families of jailed Canadians have every right to look upon the Canadian Government to make representations to the overseas government in an effort to free them. By the same token, the families should not expect the government to go to war or send its air force or navy to free them.
Dealing with foreign governments can be time-consuming and laborious. Diplomatic approaches have to be made, taking into consideration local customs, sentiments and politics. In the Greyson and Loubani case, even Prime Minister Stephen Harper was personally involved, prompting John Greyson’s sister, to say that she was grateful for the strongly-worded statement from the PMO, which she said: “Indicates the level of concern that the Canadian government has around this case.”
Another Canadian imprisoned in a foreign country is Cy Tokmakjian, an entrepreneur who is jailed in Cuba for two years. The situation is worrying his Member of Parliament, Peter Kent, who visited him Cuba’s La Condesa prison. Cuban authorities arrested Tokmakjian, founder of a transportation firm operating in Canada, Asia, Central America and the Caribbean, in September 2011. “After two years without charges we would respectfully and on the basis of the long relationship between Canada and Cuba — we don’t always agree, but we tend to work on our differences, whatever they are — it’s time to move ahead and get this case resolved in a timely fashion,” said Kent, who represents Thornhill, Tokmakjian’s hometown. Cases such as this can greatly impact Canadian and international business community working on the island.
It is believed that some businesses in Cuba are now worried that practices considered acceptable under former president Fidel Castro could now be illegal under Raul Castro’s administration. Those might include incentive or performance pay and emergency assistance to the families of employees, Kent said.
Canadians operating businesses or living abroad have to be very cautious when they get involved in local matters, especially if it’s a protest or demonstration against the government. People are even arrested in Canada when they participate in protests, so why does it surprise us when they are arrested overseas?
The rule of thumb for our overseas compatriots should be not to get involved in local events and for business people to follow the code of behaviour acceptable to do business with the regime in power. What was acceptable by the previous government can quickly become unacceptable when political regime changes.
On the other side of the coin is the case of two Saudi brave female activists — Wajeha al-Huwaider and Fawzia al-Ayuni – who have championed the case of a Canadian woman, Nathalie Morin, whose mother alleges that her daughter is a victim of domestic violence, abuse and rape by her Saudi husband, was denied adequate food, and was being kept there against her will. The two Saudi women who attempted to help Morin were sentenced to 10 months in prison after being found guilty on a Sharia law charge of takhbib — incitement of a wife to defy the authority of her husband.
Saudi Arabia is notoriously known for suppressing women. It is one country where women are not allowed to drive or until recently, not allowed to even ride a bike.
Equality Now has launched a media campaign in support of al-Huwaider and al-Ayuni, urging foreign governments to condemn the sentence. This one incident in which Canada and other countries must push to have this sentence deleted. We need their help to fight more battles for other people like Nathalie Morins.
