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Canadians end hunger strike

Published: 04 Oct 2013 - 05:07 am | Last Updated: 29 Jan 2022 - 08:17 pm

CAIRO: Two Canadians held in Egypt since mid-August have ended their hunger strike after winning small concessions from their jailers, a relative of one of the men said yesterday.

John Greyson is a Toronto film-maker and university professor, while Tarek Loubani is an emergency room doctor from London, Ontario.

They were detained in mid-August soon after trying to enter Gaza, where Greyson was scouting for a documentary and Loubani planned to help train local doctors. They were turned back at the Gaza border and later arrested after a protest in Cairo.

The two began a hunger strike on September 16, one month after their arrest, “to call attention to their unjust and arbitrary detention,” said a statement issued by Greyson’s sister, Cecilia.

But they have now resumed eating solid food under medical supervision after their plight was widely publicised and a secondary demand for increased exercise time was won, she added.

AFP