CANADIANS BEHIND BARS IN A FOREIGN LAND
‘If you look at any given time, there are about 1,800 to 2,000 Canadians in a foreign jail.’ — Gar Pardy, retired Canadian ambassador
Canadians Tarek Loubani, a doctor, and John Greyson, a filmmaker, will return home as smalltime celebrities after their detainment in Egypt became national news.
Both men were swept up in a mass arrest during a bloody riot and held for 51 days in Egypt without charges. After weeks of growing public outrage, they were released over the weekend.
Their story may be brutal, but it’s hardly unique. According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFAIT), about 1,610 Canadians were imprisoned abroad as of August. The majority of these cases will never warrant a newspaper story. Some of these Canadians were arrested for drug trafficking or assaults. Some are political prisoners who have been long forgotten, left to serve interminable sentences.
Most detained Canadians — 1,121 — are serving time in the United States. Of those, one Canadian is facing the death penalty. A further 77 Canadians have been incarcerated in China; 66 in Australia; and 17 in the Dominican republic.
“The rule of thumb is that anything a Canadian will do in Canada, they will do in a foreign country,” said Gar Pardy, a retired Canadian ambassador. “If you look at any given time, there are about 1,800 to 2,000 Canadians in a foreign jail. The majority of them relate to drugs, and then it spirals out for from that; assault, murder, rape. And you get robbery, fraud, all of those things crop up in these cases.”
Canada’s consular officers have limited powers to act on behalf of citizens in foreign countries; it’s local law that applies to Canadians who travel abroad.
No country boasts pleasant jails, Mr. Pardy added. However, detention in other countries can be particularly gruelling. In addition to language barriers, foreign justice systems don’t always adhere to Canadian notions of fairness; they can be heavily influenced by local political realities.
Although the arrest of Mr. Loubani and Mr. Greyson sparked widespread outrage, Mr. Pardy, who has handled similar cases numerous times during his career, said he was actually quite impressed by Egyptian authorities, considering the circumstances.
“The Egyptian authorities were being fairly co-operative with the two. People in the Cairo embassy were in contact with them on a regular basis, they could bring in medical help,” he said. “The two got pretty good local legal assistance ... they seem to be trying to work the system as well as they can. The basic dynamic at work here is that the Egyptian system is a system that is under extreme stress, and it’s subject to the political system.”
And as friends and family express relief at Mr. Loubani’s and Mr. Greyson’s expected return, it’s worth recalling a few of the other Canadians who remain incarcerated abroad.