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TORONTO – Canadian filmmaker John Greyson and physician Dr. Tarek Loubani are on their way home to Canada from Egypt after being freed from a Cairo prison last week.
The pair, who are expected to reach Toronto on Friday evening, were only cleared yesterday to fly out of the country after being imprisoned for seven weeks, after they were seized on Aug. 16.
STORY: Hollywood to Egypt: Release Filmmaker John Greyson, Physician Tarek Loubani
”It’s over. At 9:40 a.m., Cairo local time, we took off from Cairo international airport on a flight back home. We will arrive at Toronto’s Pearson at 7:25 p.m. on flight AC 877,” Greyson and Loubani said in a statement on Friday.
On Thursday, Greyson and Loubani released a short video on YouTube where they thanked supporters
“We’re stuck a bit and our ordeal is not over. But for now we thought to say hi and peace,” Greyson said in the video.
Lynne Yelich, Canada’s minister of state for foreign affairs and consular, in her own statement said Canada “joins the families of Dr. Loubani and Mr. Greyson in welcoming their return to Canada.”
Greyson, a Toronto filmmaker, and Loubani, a London, Ont., doctor, were arrested after being caught up in violent anti-government demonstrations in Cairo, but never faced any formal charge.
They say they were detained in harsh conditions and spent most of their time in a cockroach-infested cell with dozens of other inmates.
Their release followed a public and online campaign by Hollywood celebrities such as Charlize Theron, Alec Baldwin and Ben Affleck to secure their freedom.
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