NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair says Prime Minister Stephen Harper should be doing more to help two Canadians who have been jailed in Egypt for more than six weeks without charges.
Mulcairâs comments come one day after it was announced that John Greyson and Dr. Tarek Loubani will be held for an additional 45 days in Cairoâs notorious Tora prison.
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said he raised his concerns about the Ontario menâs imprisonment with his Egyptian counterpart late last week.
On Sunday, the Prime Ministerâs Office weighed in on the case for the first time since the pairâs arrest, saying in a statement that in the absence of charges against Greyson and Loubani, the two should be released âimmediately.â
Mulcair said Monday that while heâs pleased the PMO raised the issue, heâs calling on Harper to do more.
âNow itâs time for action,â he told reporters in Ottawa.
âI think Mr. Baird, in the limits of his mandate, has been able to act appropriately. Now itâs up to the prime minister take it up to another level and thatâs what we called upon Prime Minister Harper to do last week.â
Cecilia Greyson, John Greysonâs sister, said sheâs grateful for the strongly-worded statement from the PMO, which she said: âIndicates the level of concern that the Canadian government has around this case.â
âCertainly the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been very active in the case since the beginning and to have the prime minister issue a strong statement really gives us some hope, certainly, that the Canadian government is behind us,â Cecilia told CTVâs Canada AM.
Cecilia said she hopes Harper will be able to talk to Egyptian interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi, and âhopefully push for a release.â
Greyson and Loubani were arrested on Aug. 16 in Cairo, where they arrived with transit visas on their way to Gaza. The unrest in Egypt prevented them from crossing the border and they were arrested after helping the wounded during one of Cairoâs violent protests.
In a , the men explained the circumstances surrounding their arrest and described âridiculousâ conditions in the Tora prison. They said theyâre sleeping with cockroaches on the concrete floor of a crowded cell and drinking from a âsingle tap of earthy Nile water.â
In protest, both men began a hunger strike on Sept. 16.
Cecilia said the menâs families and lawyers have provided âample documentationâ to prove that the pair was simply travelling through Egypt in August, but the prosecutor has âshown no interest.â
âWeâre really treating this as a human rights issue right now,â she said.
Cecilia Greyson had previously said she believes the Egyptian government has "political motivations" for keeping her brother and Loubani in jail, because the men witnessed numerous deaths during the Aug. 16 protest.