Abousfian Abdelrazik a Canadian citizen born in Sudan was arrested when he went to Sudan to visit his mother in 2003. Sudanese authorities suspected that Adbelrazik had ties to Al Qaeda. Abdelrazik says he was tortured by his Sudanese captors and asked questions that he thinks were prompted by CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service)
While he was imprisoned Abdelrazik's passport expired and he ended up having to live in the Canadian embassy in Khartoum. In July 2006 the U.S. listed Abdelrazik as an Al Qaeda supporter and the UN also added his name to a list of terrorists.
However, Abdelrazik has never been charged with anything. Quite the opposite he has been cleared by both the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) and CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Agency) of any terrorist connections.
In June of 1909 Federal Court Justice Russel Zinn concluded that CSIS had been complicit in arranging Adbdelrazik's arrest. He also ruled that the Canadian government had denied his constitutional rights by not issuing him a visa to return to Canada.
CSIS asked for a prompt review of the case more than two years ago. But two years later the investigation seems to be dying a slow death. No one from the CSIS has responded to reporters' questions about the status of the investigation.
However finally Abdelarzik's name has been removed from the UN's terrorist list. Abdelrazik has been trying to clear his name ever since he returned to Canada in June 2009. If the case of Maher Arar is any precedent Abdelrazik will probably never get the U.S. to change their characterization of him as an Al Qaeda supporter. Arar is still on a no fly list. Arar was rendered to Syria after he was held during a transfer of planes in the U.S when he was on his way back to Canada. He was deported on the grounds he was an Al Qaeda supporter. He was deported to Syria even though he was a Canadian citizen and told U.S. authorities he would be tortured there. Even though there was a long expensive inquiry in Canada that cleared Arar and awarded him ten million dollars the U.S. has never changed their position. For more on Abdelrazik see this article.
Showing posts with label Abousfian Abdelrazik. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Abousfian Abdelrazik. Show all posts
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Friday, June 19, 2009
Ottawa will allow Abdelrazik to return to Canada
We now know a bit more of the background of this case. Canada was as usual acting as a helpful comrade for US intelligence. The US asked us to build a case against Abdelrazik. Of course we obediently complied.
Harper was reluctant to irritate the US so even when the Court told him to let Abdelrazik come back and that his rights had been violated he contemplated appealing the decision. But the political heat hurt him a bit and probably he was advised he would lose. Of course he still remains adamant about Khadr. This too could be at US request. Obama the great changer has been competely quiet on Khadr.
Anyway better late than never re Abdelrazik. Iggy could have easily enough asked Harper to let Abdelrazik come back as a condition of his deal. But then the great champion of human rights never thought of that I guess.
Ottawa will allow Abdelrazik to return to Canada
Last Updated: Thursday, June 18, 2009
CBC News
The federal government will comply with a Federal Court order to allow the return of Montrealer Abousfian Abdelrazik, who has been stranded in Sudan for six years after being labelled an al-Qaeda suspect, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said Thursday.A travel date for Abousfian Abdelrazik is not yet known.
Abdelrazik, 47, was arrested and detained while visiting his mother in Sudan in 2003 and for the last year has been living in the Canadian Embassy in Khartoum.
Earlier this month, Federal Court Justice Russell Zinn ordered the Canadian government to fly him home early next month and provide those travel plans by Friday.
Nicholson initially said the government would need time to review Zinn's decision before deciding whether it would appeal, despite intense calls from opposition members and Abdelrazik's supporters to allow him to return.
But in his response to a question Thursday from Liberal MP Irwin Cotler in the House of Commons about the status of Abdelrazik, Nicholson said, "The government will comply with the court order."
A spokeswoman for the Foreign Affairs department said it had nothing to add to Nicholson's statement.
No date set yet for return: lawyer
Following Nicholson's announcement, Abdelrazik's lawyer, Khalid Elgazzar, told CBC News his legal team has received written confirmation from the government that Abdelrazik will return to Canada, but could not immediately disclose a travel date.
"They've given us an initial indication as to a commitment to bring him back, and I guess the logistical factors are how that's going to happen," he said in an interview from Ottawa.
Elgazzar said he contacted Abdelrazik to inform him of the government's decision and his client "had some difficulty containing his happiness."
Both the RCMP and Canadian Security Intelligence Service have cleared Abdelrazik of any terrorist connections, but the Conservative government had refused to issue him travel documents to return home because his name was on a UN Security Council list banning travel for terrorist suspects.
Rae urges Tories to accept court's Khadr decision
His lawyers successfully argued the government has violated his right to mobility under Section 6 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In his decision, Zinn wrote that Abdelrazik is a "prisoner in a foreign land" and "as much a victim of international terrorism as the innocent persons whose lives have been taken by recent barbaric acts of terrorists."
The judge said the government's claim that Abdelrazik couldn't fly to Canada due to his inclusion on the UN blacklist was actually "no impediment" to his repatriation.
Zinn also said CSIS was "complicit" in Abdelrazik's detention by Sudanese authorities six years ago.
Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae said the government's decision also raises the question of why the Conservatives are not abiding another Federal Court decision calling on Ottawa to press for the return of Omar Khadr, the last Western citizen imprisoned at the U.S. detention centre in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"The judge's decision in Abdelrazik was very clear, but I would add that the judge's decision in Mr. Khadr's case is very clear as well, and I would hope that the government would now turn and accept the decision in Mr. Khadr's case," Rae said Thursday.
The government announced in May it was appealing the court's ruling on the Toronto-born Khadr's case.
Khadr, now 22, has been at the Guantanamo Bay facility since 2002 when he was picked up by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. He's alleged to have thrown a grenade that killed an American soldier during a battle.
Harper was reluctant to irritate the US so even when the Court told him to let Abdelrazik come back and that his rights had been violated he contemplated appealing the decision. But the political heat hurt him a bit and probably he was advised he would lose. Of course he still remains adamant about Khadr. This too could be at US request. Obama the great changer has been competely quiet on Khadr.
Anyway better late than never re Abdelrazik. Iggy could have easily enough asked Harper to let Abdelrazik come back as a condition of his deal. But then the great champion of human rights never thought of that I guess.
Ottawa will allow Abdelrazik to return to Canada
Last Updated: Thursday, June 18, 2009
CBC News
The federal government will comply with a Federal Court order to allow the return of Montrealer Abousfian Abdelrazik, who has been stranded in Sudan for six years after being labelled an al-Qaeda suspect, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said Thursday.A travel date for Abousfian Abdelrazik is not yet known.
Abdelrazik, 47, was arrested and detained while visiting his mother in Sudan in 2003 and for the last year has been living in the Canadian Embassy in Khartoum.
Earlier this month, Federal Court Justice Russell Zinn ordered the Canadian government to fly him home early next month and provide those travel plans by Friday.
Nicholson initially said the government would need time to review Zinn's decision before deciding whether it would appeal, despite intense calls from opposition members and Abdelrazik's supporters to allow him to return.
But in his response to a question Thursday from Liberal MP Irwin Cotler in the House of Commons about the status of Abdelrazik, Nicholson said, "The government will comply with the court order."
A spokeswoman for the Foreign Affairs department said it had nothing to add to Nicholson's statement.
No date set yet for return: lawyer
Following Nicholson's announcement, Abdelrazik's lawyer, Khalid Elgazzar, told CBC News his legal team has received written confirmation from the government that Abdelrazik will return to Canada, but could not immediately disclose a travel date.
"They've given us an initial indication as to a commitment to bring him back, and I guess the logistical factors are how that's going to happen," he said in an interview from Ottawa.
Elgazzar said he contacted Abdelrazik to inform him of the government's decision and his client "had some difficulty containing his happiness."
Both the RCMP and Canadian Security Intelligence Service have cleared Abdelrazik of any terrorist connections, but the Conservative government had refused to issue him travel documents to return home because his name was on a UN Security Council list banning travel for terrorist suspects.
Rae urges Tories to accept court's Khadr decision
His lawyers successfully argued the government has violated his right to mobility under Section 6 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In his decision, Zinn wrote that Abdelrazik is a "prisoner in a foreign land" and "as much a victim of international terrorism as the innocent persons whose lives have been taken by recent barbaric acts of terrorists."
The judge said the government's claim that Abdelrazik couldn't fly to Canada due to his inclusion on the UN blacklist was actually "no impediment" to his repatriation.
Zinn also said CSIS was "complicit" in Abdelrazik's detention by Sudanese authorities six years ago.
Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae said the government's decision also raises the question of why the Conservatives are not abiding another Federal Court decision calling on Ottawa to press for the return of Omar Khadr, the last Western citizen imprisoned at the U.S. detention centre in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"The judge's decision in Abdelrazik was very clear, but I would add that the judge's decision in Mr. Khadr's case is very clear as well, and I would hope that the government would now turn and accept the decision in Mr. Khadr's case," Rae said Thursday.
The government announced in May it was appealing the court's ruling on the Toronto-born Khadr's case.
Khadr, now 22, has been at the Guantanamo Bay facility since 2002 when he was picked up by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. He's alleged to have thrown a grenade that killed an American soldier during a battle.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Canada free to bring Abdelrazik home, UN official says
This is from the Globe and Mail.
I am surprised that more is not made of this charade being played out by the government. The legal mythology that the Canadian govt. case is based upon is made clear by this statement from the UN. It is really hard to see why the government is playing hardball on this except perhaps to show that the Cannon is a loyal puppy dog still following the hard line of the Bush administration long after Bush has retired to his ranch! In this case even the RCMP and CSIS have no charges against him nor the Sudanese govt. No matter. To the Conservatives Bush policy is Holy Writ it would seem.
Canada free to bring Abdelrazik home, UN official says
BY PAUL KORING
Friday, May. 15, 2009 03:10PM EDT
Canada is free to bring Abousfian Abdelrazik home and doesn't need to ask for permission, the UN official overseeing the blacklist of alleged al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects said yesterday.
“Whether it is Abdelrazik or anybody else, it is up to the state in question whether they want to allow the person to come back or not,” said Richard Barrett, co-ordinator of the UN's Al-Qaeda and Taliban Monitoring Team, which oversees the various United Nations resolutions establishing the blacklist on which Mr. Abdelrazik was placed at the request of Washington in 2006.
He said the travel ban exemption allowing for the return of a citizen is so clear in the UN resolutions that governments need not – and most don't – even apply for permits.
“States needn't notify the committee if somebody is going back to their own country, so we don't necessarily know of all the instances where that has happened,” Mr. Barrett said, dismissing the central claim of the Harper government as it fights Mr. Abdelrazik's return.
The Harper government continues to insist that Mr. Abdelrazik's presence on the UN list justifies blocking his return and denying him a passport.
“Mr. Abdelrazik is on the list established by the United Nations Security Council as an individual with ties to al-Qaeda. Therefore, he is subject to a travel ban and an asset freeze. Our government is taking its obligations seriously and that is why we are not going” to issue him a travel document to return home, Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said in the House of Commons on Monday.
Mr. Barrett's assertion that the travel ban doesn't prevent Mr. Abdelrazik's return and – even if it did – other nations on the route home don't need to agree to the exemption, strikes at the heart of the two key claims made by government ministers and Justice Department lawyers in their efforts to block the return of Mr. Abdelrazik, a Canadian citizen.
Mr. Abdelrazik's lawyers argue the government is trampling on his Charter right to return home and deliberately twisting international law to shore up efforts that have left him marooned abroad for more than six years. They claim the government wants to hide the involvement of Canadian agents in the arrest, imprisonment and mistreatment of a Canadian overseas.
Mr. Abdelrazik, 47, has been living in the Canadian embassy in Khartoum for more than a year. Despite being cleared by both CSIS and the RCMP, he remains on the UN Security Council terrorist blacklist, put there by the Bush administration. Mr. Cannon called him a “national security risk” last month when the minister abruptly reversed previous written government promises to issue him a one-way travel document to come home if he could find an airline willing to fly him. Nearly 200 Canadians had bought him a ticket.
Today in Federal Court, government lawyers are expected to argue that Mr. Abdelrazik can't come home because the travel ban associated with the UN terrorist blacklist means every state he might fly over between Khartoum and Montreal would need to explicitly seek a travel ban exemption for him.
The government relies extensively on that interpretation in its court filing.
“The travel ban specifies that listed individuals may not enter into the territories of a UN member state or transit through the territory of a UN member state,” Justice Department lawyers contend in their “memorandum of fact and law.” The government's adds “it is geographically impossible for [Mr. Abdelrazik] to travel from Sudan to Canada by air, land or sea without transiting through the sovereign territories (land, airspace or territorial waters) of numerous UN member states which are bound at international law to prevent such transit.”
Mr. Barrett rejects that interpretation.
“The overflight states don't come into it and they haven't ever come into it,” he said.
The UN 1267 committee, so named for the first UN resolution, co-sponsored by Canada, which created the blacklist, has issued numerous travel ban exemptions for various reasons, including travel for medical treatment or to attend legal hearings.
None of them has ever involved permission from overflight states, nor have overflight states been involved when countries bring citizens home under the explicit travel ban exemption without seeking a UN travel permit.
Heavily censored government documents implicate Canadian security agents in Mr. Abdelrazik's arrest in Sudan in 2003. CSIS agents interrogated him in Sudanese prisons while the rest of the government and even his family were kept in the dark about his whereabouts.
Mr. Abdelrazik claims he was beaten and tortured during his 19 months – in two stints – in Sudan's notorious prisons. Government lawyer Anne Turley, in cross-examination in preparation for today's court hearing, tried to get Mr. Abdelrazik to admit to self-mutilation to account for the scars on his torso. Other documents show Ottawa rejected Sudanese offers to fly Mr. Abdelrazik home and that Khartoum told Canadian diplomats it could no longer hold an innocent man at the behest of foreign governments. Meanwhile, Canadian officials dismissed Mr. Abdelrazik's treatment as no worse than usual for a Sudanese jail. Senior Canadian officials ordered Canadian diplomats to stay away when Mr. Abdelrazik pleaded for them to attend while he was interrogated by visiting U.S. agents.
The Bush administration added Mr. Abdelrazik to the UN list and its own no-fly list in 2006. He is the only living Canadian on the list of more than 500 al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects.
Mr. Abdelrazik, who came to Canada in 1990 and was granted political refugee status, became a citizen in 1995. He has never been charged with a crime in Canada, the United States or Sudan.
In 2007, the Canadian government asked the UN to delist him, after first getting written assurances from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the RCMP that he wasn't regarded as a terrorist or criminal threat. The delisting request was vetoed, probably by the United States, which claims he is a close associate of Abu Zubaydah, the al-Qaeda leader who was water boarded more than 80 times by CIA agents.
On Tuesday, Mr. Abdelrazik's supporters delivered a personal appeal from the man marooned in the Canadian embassy to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
“I have seen commercials of you, Mr. Harper, during the last election, in which you were playing piano with your young son,” Mr. Abdelrazik said in his letter delivered by some of the hundreds of Canadians who paid for his ticket home last month. “You are a man who cares about his family. Why do you forbid me to be with my family? To encourage my young son to play piano or play soccer and to watch my teenage daughter grow and learn? I have dreams, Mr. Harper, dreams that I will one day return to my beloved Canada. But today I am living a nightmare.”
NDP press release:
LET COMMITTEE DO IT’S WORK IN ABDELRAZIK’S CASE: DEWAR OTTAWA – New Democrat Foreign Affairs Critic Paul Dewar (Ottawa Centre) called on the government allow the committee to go ahead with repatriating Canadian citizen Abousfian Abdelrazik. “The federal government has failed on this case, so the Foreign Affairs committee decided to act and invited Mr. Abdelrazik to appear as a witness,” said Dewar whose motion at the Foreign Affairs committee was adopted unanimously. “Still, Minister Cannon told the committee on Monday that he is not going to issue the necessary travel documents for Mr. Abdelrazik’s return. Why is the Minister putting himself in contempt of the committee?” Dewar was joined by community members and Mr. Abdelrazik’s legal representatives who announced travel arrangements made for repatriating him on June 12, 2009. Mr. Abdelrazik has been stranded in Sudan for over six years. He cannot travel because the Conservative government is not issuing him a Canadian passport. The government insists that Mr. Abdelrazik’s listing on the UN’s travel ban means he cannot return to Canada. But UN officials have stated that Canada can repatriate its citizens, despite the travel ban. CSIS, RCMP and the government of Sudan have cleared Mr. Abdelrazik of any wrongdoing. “I call on the Minister to reconsider his decision, do the right thing and allow the committee to go ahead with repatriating Mr. Abdelrazik,” stated Dewar. “For members of the committee all options are on the table to ensure we can perform our duties to the people of Canada.”
I am surprised that more is not made of this charade being played out by the government. The legal mythology that the Canadian govt. case is based upon is made clear by this statement from the UN. It is really hard to see why the government is playing hardball on this except perhaps to show that the Cannon is a loyal puppy dog still following the hard line of the Bush administration long after Bush has retired to his ranch! In this case even the RCMP and CSIS have no charges against him nor the Sudanese govt. No matter. To the Conservatives Bush policy is Holy Writ it would seem.
Canada free to bring Abdelrazik home, UN official says
BY PAUL KORING
Friday, May. 15, 2009 03:10PM EDT
Canada is free to bring Abousfian Abdelrazik home and doesn't need to ask for permission, the UN official overseeing the blacklist of alleged al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects said yesterday.
“Whether it is Abdelrazik or anybody else, it is up to the state in question whether they want to allow the person to come back or not,” said Richard Barrett, co-ordinator of the UN's Al-Qaeda and Taliban Monitoring Team, which oversees the various United Nations resolutions establishing the blacklist on which Mr. Abdelrazik was placed at the request of Washington in 2006.
He said the travel ban exemption allowing for the return of a citizen is so clear in the UN resolutions that governments need not – and most don't – even apply for permits.
“States needn't notify the committee if somebody is going back to their own country, so we don't necessarily know of all the instances where that has happened,” Mr. Barrett said, dismissing the central claim of the Harper government as it fights Mr. Abdelrazik's return.
The Harper government continues to insist that Mr. Abdelrazik's presence on the UN list justifies blocking his return and denying him a passport.
“Mr. Abdelrazik is on the list established by the United Nations Security Council as an individual with ties to al-Qaeda. Therefore, he is subject to a travel ban and an asset freeze. Our government is taking its obligations seriously and that is why we are not going” to issue him a travel document to return home, Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said in the House of Commons on Monday.
Mr. Barrett's assertion that the travel ban doesn't prevent Mr. Abdelrazik's return and – even if it did – other nations on the route home don't need to agree to the exemption, strikes at the heart of the two key claims made by government ministers and Justice Department lawyers in their efforts to block the return of Mr. Abdelrazik, a Canadian citizen.
Mr. Abdelrazik's lawyers argue the government is trampling on his Charter right to return home and deliberately twisting international law to shore up efforts that have left him marooned abroad for more than six years. They claim the government wants to hide the involvement of Canadian agents in the arrest, imprisonment and mistreatment of a Canadian overseas.
Mr. Abdelrazik, 47, has been living in the Canadian embassy in Khartoum for more than a year. Despite being cleared by both CSIS and the RCMP, he remains on the UN Security Council terrorist blacklist, put there by the Bush administration. Mr. Cannon called him a “national security risk” last month when the minister abruptly reversed previous written government promises to issue him a one-way travel document to come home if he could find an airline willing to fly him. Nearly 200 Canadians had bought him a ticket.
Today in Federal Court, government lawyers are expected to argue that Mr. Abdelrazik can't come home because the travel ban associated with the UN terrorist blacklist means every state he might fly over between Khartoum and Montreal would need to explicitly seek a travel ban exemption for him.
The government relies extensively on that interpretation in its court filing.
“The travel ban specifies that listed individuals may not enter into the territories of a UN member state or transit through the territory of a UN member state,” Justice Department lawyers contend in their “memorandum of fact and law.” The government's adds “it is geographically impossible for [Mr. Abdelrazik] to travel from Sudan to Canada by air, land or sea without transiting through the sovereign territories (land, airspace or territorial waters) of numerous UN member states which are bound at international law to prevent such transit.”
Mr. Barrett rejects that interpretation.
“The overflight states don't come into it and they haven't ever come into it,” he said.
The UN 1267 committee, so named for the first UN resolution, co-sponsored by Canada, which created the blacklist, has issued numerous travel ban exemptions for various reasons, including travel for medical treatment or to attend legal hearings.
None of them has ever involved permission from overflight states, nor have overflight states been involved when countries bring citizens home under the explicit travel ban exemption without seeking a UN travel permit.
Heavily censored government documents implicate Canadian security agents in Mr. Abdelrazik's arrest in Sudan in 2003. CSIS agents interrogated him in Sudanese prisons while the rest of the government and even his family were kept in the dark about his whereabouts.
Mr. Abdelrazik claims he was beaten and tortured during his 19 months – in two stints – in Sudan's notorious prisons. Government lawyer Anne Turley, in cross-examination in preparation for today's court hearing, tried to get Mr. Abdelrazik to admit to self-mutilation to account for the scars on his torso. Other documents show Ottawa rejected Sudanese offers to fly Mr. Abdelrazik home and that Khartoum told Canadian diplomats it could no longer hold an innocent man at the behest of foreign governments. Meanwhile, Canadian officials dismissed Mr. Abdelrazik's treatment as no worse than usual for a Sudanese jail. Senior Canadian officials ordered Canadian diplomats to stay away when Mr. Abdelrazik pleaded for them to attend while he was interrogated by visiting U.S. agents.
The Bush administration added Mr. Abdelrazik to the UN list and its own no-fly list in 2006. He is the only living Canadian on the list of more than 500 al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects.
Mr. Abdelrazik, who came to Canada in 1990 and was granted political refugee status, became a citizen in 1995. He has never been charged with a crime in Canada, the United States or Sudan.
In 2007, the Canadian government asked the UN to delist him, after first getting written assurances from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the RCMP that he wasn't regarded as a terrorist or criminal threat. The delisting request was vetoed, probably by the United States, which claims he is a close associate of Abu Zubaydah, the al-Qaeda leader who was water boarded more than 80 times by CIA agents.
On Tuesday, Mr. Abdelrazik's supporters delivered a personal appeal from the man marooned in the Canadian embassy to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
“I have seen commercials of you, Mr. Harper, during the last election, in which you were playing piano with your young son,” Mr. Abdelrazik said in his letter delivered by some of the hundreds of Canadians who paid for his ticket home last month. “You are a man who cares about his family. Why do you forbid me to be with my family? To encourage my young son to play piano or play soccer and to watch my teenage daughter grow and learn? I have dreams, Mr. Harper, dreams that I will one day return to my beloved Canada. But today I am living a nightmare.”
NDP press release:
LET COMMITTEE DO IT’S WORK IN ABDELRAZIK’S CASE: DEWAR OTTAWA – New Democrat Foreign Affairs Critic Paul Dewar (Ottawa Centre) called on the government allow the committee to go ahead with repatriating Canadian citizen Abousfian Abdelrazik. “The federal government has failed on this case, so the Foreign Affairs committee decided to act and invited Mr. Abdelrazik to appear as a witness,” said Dewar whose motion at the Foreign Affairs committee was adopted unanimously. “Still, Minister Cannon told the committee on Monday that he is not going to issue the necessary travel documents for Mr. Abdelrazik’s return. Why is the Minister putting himself in contempt of the committee?” Dewar was joined by community members and Mr. Abdelrazik’s legal representatives who announced travel arrangements made for repatriating him on June 12, 2009. Mr. Abdelrazik has been stranded in Sudan for over six years. He cannot travel because the Conservative government is not issuing him a Canadian passport. The government insists that Mr. Abdelrazik’s listing on the UN’s travel ban means he cannot return to Canada. But UN officials have stated that Canada can repatriate its citizens, despite the travel ban. CSIS, RCMP and the government of Sudan have cleared Mr. Abdelrazik of any wrongdoing. “I call on the Minister to reconsider his decision, do the right thing and allow the committee to go ahead with repatriating Mr. Abdelrazik,” stated Dewar. “For members of the committee all options are on the table to ensure we can perform our duties to the people of Canada.”
Saturday, May 9, 2009
A Modest Proposal Re Abousfian Abdelrazik
The supposed problem with bringing Abdelrazik back to Canada is that he is on a UN no fly list. However there are ways of getting around the no-fly list. Obama, as you must know, has not abolished the US policy of rendition. This provides Harper with a golden opportunity..
Harper could request that the US render Abdelrazik from the Sudan to Canada. Rendition flights regularly ferry people on no-fly lists around the world, usually to be tortured in countries such as Syria, Egypt, etc. The flights pay no heed to UN rules about people on no-fly lists. Of course we must make sure that there is no stopover in New York because then he might be removed from the plane branded an Al Qaeda agent and sent to Syria as Maher Arar was.
Harper could request that the US render Abdelrazik from the Sudan to Canada. Rendition flights regularly ferry people on no-fly lists around the world, usually to be tortured in countries such as Syria, Egypt, etc. The flights pay no heed to UN rules about people on no-fly lists. Of course we must make sure that there is no stopover in New York because then he might be removed from the plane branded an Al Qaeda agent and sent to Syria as Maher Arar was.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Help sought for Canadian stranded in Sudan
It seems that the government is able to stonewall on cases such as these until the furor dies down and the issue is neglected by the mainstream press. It seems that being unable to prove that someone is a terrorist does not stop the government from punishing them anyway as if they had done wrong. Actions such as this make a mockery of government claims to stand up for human rights. Of course Harper does the same with Khadr in Guantanamo. At least the Canadian govt. stood up for Arar while the US govt. continues to keep him on a no fly list and considers him a member of Al Qaeda. No one in the intelligence community ever was punished or even reprimanded for the treatment of Arar and in the US the govt. continues to defend their own ludicrous assessment against all evidence to the contrary revealed in the Mahar inquiry in Canada. I have never heard a peep from Obama on the Arar case.
Help sought for Canadian stranded in Sudan TheStar.com - GTA - Help sought for Canadian stranded in Sudan
Ex-hostage leads protest to demand Ottawa bring man home
May 05, 2009 Isabel TeotonioSTAFF REPORTER
Canadian peace activist James Loney, once held hostage in Iraq, knows what it is like to spend months "aching and yearning with my whole being to come home."
That is why he led a demonstration in downtown Toronto yesterday to raise awareness about Abousfian Abdelrazik, a Canadian citizen stranded in Sudan and living inside the embassy because Ottawa refuses to give him a passport on grounds of national security.
Loney said he is "astonished, saddened and outraged" the government's efforts to secure his release in 2006 have not been extended to 47-year-old Abdelrazik, a Montreal man who first came to Canada in 1990 and who has been suspected of terrorist affiliations.
Particularly egregious is the attempt to "actively block" Abdelrazik from returning home, which is "an attack on citizenship itself," said Loney, who led 40 protesters from the passport office on Victoria St., to the offices of the Department of Justice on King St. W., and the Canadian spy agency on Front St.
"In the so-called war on terror, people are arbitrarily deprived of their rights, scapegoated, detained," said Loney, who was held hostage in Iraq for four months.
Abdelrazik alleges he returned to Sudan in 2003 to visit his ill mother, and was arrested and tortured. Foreign affairs department documents suggest he was detained on the recommendation of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, who interrogated him in Sudanese custody. After almost two years in jail, he was released. He was never charged and was cleared of suspicion by the RCMP and CSIS. Even though he remains on a UN no-fly list, it does not prevent countries from bringing home their nationals.
"This Conservative government apparently believes that referring to someone as a terrorist, even if they are not one, is all the justification they need to deny someone their fundamental rights," said protester Pascal Murphy, one of 225 Canadians who pitched in to buy Abdelrazik a plane ticket home.
In Ottawa yesterday, the parliamentary foreign affairs committee passed a motion to call Abdelrazik as a witness, which is one way of bringing him home. The Conservatives abstained from the vote.
"It's a matter of just following through with the appropriate travel arrangements to have him come before committee," said Paul Dewar, the NDP foreign affairs critic.
Abdelrazik's lawyers will be in Ottawa Thursday arguing in federal court that his right to enter Canada, protected under the Charter of Rights, has been breached.
With files from Joanna Smith
Help sought for Canadian stranded in Sudan TheStar.com - GTA - Help sought for Canadian stranded in Sudan
Ex-hostage leads protest to demand Ottawa bring man home
May 05, 2009 Isabel TeotonioSTAFF REPORTER
Canadian peace activist James Loney, once held hostage in Iraq, knows what it is like to spend months "aching and yearning with my whole being to come home."
That is why he led a demonstration in downtown Toronto yesterday to raise awareness about Abousfian Abdelrazik, a Canadian citizen stranded in Sudan and living inside the embassy because Ottawa refuses to give him a passport on grounds of national security.
Loney said he is "astonished, saddened and outraged" the government's efforts to secure his release in 2006 have not been extended to 47-year-old Abdelrazik, a Montreal man who first came to Canada in 1990 and who has been suspected of terrorist affiliations.
Particularly egregious is the attempt to "actively block" Abdelrazik from returning home, which is "an attack on citizenship itself," said Loney, who led 40 protesters from the passport office on Victoria St., to the offices of the Department of Justice on King St. W., and the Canadian spy agency on Front St.
"In the so-called war on terror, people are arbitrarily deprived of their rights, scapegoated, detained," said Loney, who was held hostage in Iraq for four months.
Abdelrazik alleges he returned to Sudan in 2003 to visit his ill mother, and was arrested and tortured. Foreign affairs department documents suggest he was detained on the recommendation of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, who interrogated him in Sudanese custody. After almost two years in jail, he was released. He was never charged and was cleared of suspicion by the RCMP and CSIS. Even though he remains on a UN no-fly list, it does not prevent countries from bringing home their nationals.
"This Conservative government apparently believes that referring to someone as a terrorist, even if they are not one, is all the justification they need to deny someone their fundamental rights," said protester Pascal Murphy, one of 225 Canadians who pitched in to buy Abdelrazik a plane ticket home.
In Ottawa yesterday, the parliamentary foreign affairs committee passed a motion to call Abdelrazik as a witness, which is one way of bringing him home. The Conservatives abstained from the vote.
"It's a matter of just following through with the appropriate travel arrangements to have him come before committee," said Paul Dewar, the NDP foreign affairs critic.
Abdelrazik's lawyers will be in Ottawa Thursday arguing in federal court that his right to enter Canada, protected under the Charter of Rights, has been breached.
With files from Joanna Smith
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Canadian in Sudan denied passport on security grounds
If Abdelrazik has been cleared of terror ties by Sudanese and Canadian authorities it is hard to see why he can be denied entry back into Canada as a security risk. Anyway he is a Canadian citizen, surely a Canadian citizen has a right to return to Canada even if he were a security risk. This Conservative government simply seems very inconsistent as to when it shows concern with someone's human rights. Apparently the slightest hint of connection to terror and human rights go out the window.
No help for Canadian stranded in Sudan since 2002
Denied passport as security risk
Canwest News ServiceApril 4, 2009 7:34 AM
T he federal government on Friday refused to supply an emergency passport to a Canadian citizen who has been stranded in Sudan since he travelled there to visit his ailing mother in 2002.
In a letter to Abousfian Abdelrazik's lawyer, a Justice Department official said his request for an emergency passport was rejected.
"Well, I denied Mr.Abdelrazik an emergency passport on the basis of national security, and so therefore as this file unfolds, and it will certainly be unfolding under a judicial cover, I don't want to go any further in terms of comments on this issue," Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence told journalists in Strasbourg, France, where he is attending the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's annual leaders' summit.
Abdelrazik was trapped in the African country after his name appeared on a United Nations no-fly list.
There have also been allegations, which Abdelrazik has always denied, that he belonged to al-Qaeda and had gone to a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan. He has been cleared of terror ties by Canadian and Sudanese authorities.
In a move designed to force Ottawa to get Abdelrazik out of Sudan, New Democrat MP Paul Dewar submitted a motion Friday to the foreign affairs and international development committee summoning Abdelrazik to appear.
"It's time to end six years of misery for this Canadian citizen and bring him home," said Dewar, who said federal officials, as recently as Dec. 23, recognized Canada's obligation to issue travel documents for the former Montrealer, who has an ex-wife and three children in Canada.
Dewar said Passport Canada said it would issue a passport for Abdelrazik if a ticket was purchased for him.That airline ticket--purchased for Abdelrazik with donations from almost 200 Canadians--expired Friday.
"The only obstacle standing between Mr. Abdelrazik and his flight home to Canada is this Conservative government," Dewar said.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
No help for Canadian stranded in Sudan since 2002
Denied passport as security risk
Canwest News ServiceApril 4, 2009 7:34 AM
T he federal government on Friday refused to supply an emergency passport to a Canadian citizen who has been stranded in Sudan since he travelled there to visit his ailing mother in 2002.
In a letter to Abousfian Abdelrazik's lawyer, a Justice Department official said his request for an emergency passport was rejected.
"Well, I denied Mr.Abdelrazik an emergency passport on the basis of national security, and so therefore as this file unfolds, and it will certainly be unfolding under a judicial cover, I don't want to go any further in terms of comments on this issue," Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence told journalists in Strasbourg, France, where he is attending the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's annual leaders' summit.
Abdelrazik was trapped in the African country after his name appeared on a United Nations no-fly list.
There have also been allegations, which Abdelrazik has always denied, that he belonged to al-Qaeda and had gone to a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan. He has been cleared of terror ties by Canadian and Sudanese authorities.
In a move designed to force Ottawa to get Abdelrazik out of Sudan, New Democrat MP Paul Dewar submitted a motion Friday to the foreign affairs and international development committee summoning Abdelrazik to appear.
"It's time to end six years of misery for this Canadian citizen and bring him home," said Dewar, who said federal officials, as recently as Dec. 23, recognized Canada's obligation to issue travel documents for the former Montrealer, who has an ex-wife and three children in Canada.
Dewar said Passport Canada said it would issue a passport for Abdelrazik if a ticket was purchased for him.That airline ticket--purchased for Abdelrazik with donations from almost 200 Canadians--expired Friday.
"The only obstacle standing between Mr. Abdelrazik and his flight home to Canada is this Conservative government," Dewar said.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Another victim of Canadian rendition lite...
This is from the Ottawa Citizen..
While attention is focused on the Iacobucci report this fellow still seems to be forgotten in the Sudan. So much for all the changes that the Arar inquiry brought about. More of the same rendition lite and more lack of accountability of anyone in the government.
Mr. Abdelrazik, of Montreal, was imprisoned in Sudan at Canada's request in 2003 after being labelled an al-Qaeda operative by U.S. authorities. He has told Canadian officials he was tortured while in Sudanese custody.Mr. Abdelrazik was released from custody in July 2006, but remains stranded in Sudan because Canada has refused to renew his travel documents.Mr. Abdelrazik's case, Ms. Pither said, demonstrated that the problems identified by two federal inquiries had not been fixed and that "it can, and is, happening again.".....
While attention is focused on the Iacobucci report this fellow still seems to be forgotten in the Sudan. So much for all the changes that the Arar inquiry brought about. More of the same rendition lite and more lack of accountability of anyone in the government.
Mr. Abdelrazik, of Montreal, was imprisoned in Sudan at Canada's request in 2003 after being labelled an al-Qaeda operative by U.S. authorities. He has told Canadian officials he was tortured while in Sudanese custody.Mr. Abdelrazik was released from custody in July 2006, but remains stranded in Sudan because Canada has refused to renew his travel documents.Mr. Abdelrazik's case, Ms. Pither said, demonstrated that the problems identified by two federal inquiries had not been fixed and that "it can, and is, happening again.".....
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Pressure mounts to repatriate Canadian citizen.
This is from the Globe and Mail. This government is too much. They refuse to provide evidence that they asked that Abdelrazik be removed from the UN list. Why would they do this if as they claim they actually have requested to the UN that he be removed? It makes no sense.
Abdelrazik was imprisoned at Canada's request! This is another clear case that cries out for investigation by Iacobucci but of course his inquiry was framed so narrowly that cases similar to the three he is examining will fall outside the scope of the inquiry. No doubt this is the way the inquiry was PreNot if the government can help it. The Liberals are likely to be useless in this case as well since the request was five years ago when the Liberals were in power. As I pointed out in an earlier post the UN list is itself a legal abomination. I am surprised there is not more criticism of it.
Pressure mounts to repatriate Canadian citizen
Human-rights groups, opposition MPs demand Harper government bring Abdelrazik home
PAUL KORING AND CAMPBELL CLARK
May 3, 2008
Human-rights groups and opposition MPs demanded yesterday that the Harper government repatriate Abousfian Abdelrazik, the Canadian labelled an al-Qaeda threat but now sheltered in the "temporary safe haven" of the Canadian embassy in Khartoum.
Bring him home and charge him in Canada if he is a terrorist, the Harper government was told.
"Get him out of there and bring him home now," said the NDP's foreign affairs critic, Paul Dewar.
"If there are allegations against Mr. Abdelrazik, charges should be laid and he should be tried in Canada," said Ihsaan Gardee, a spokesman for the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Roch Tassé, co-ordinator of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, which represents more than a dozen rights groups across Canada, said Mr. Abdelrazik's plight - left in a foreign prison and then involuntary exile for nearly five years by successive Canadian governments that denied him a passport - echoes that of Maher Arar, the Canadian falsely fingered by the RCMP as a terrorism suspect and later shipped by the United States to Syria where he was tortured in prison.
"Mr. Abdelrazik's case brings to mind the Arar inquiry, and the current Iacobucci inquiry, which is examining the involvement of Canadian officials in the overseas detention and torture of Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El Maati and Muayyed Nureddin," he said.
Mr. Abdelrazik also claims to have been beaten and abused while in prison in Sudan, an incarceration that secret Canadian documents obtained by The Globe and Mail acknowledge was "at our request."
Mr. Abdelrazik, 46, "has a right to travel back to Canada, his country of nationality," said John Tackaberry, spokesman for Amnesty International Canada.
"There are worrying indications that Canadian officials have played a role in the fate that has befallen him, including his arrest, detention, interrogation, listing and effective exile," he added.
Meanwhile, Mr. Abdelrazik was spending his fourth night in the Canadian embassy in Khartoum, facing what may be a long wait while the Harper government seeks to have him taken off the UN Security Council list of al-Qaeda members.
Sean Robertson, a senior foreign affairs official, wrote formally to Mr. Abdelrazik's lawyers last month assuring them that the government of Canada had already "transmitted our support for Mr. Abdelrazik's de-listing request to the 1267 Committee," a reference to the Security Council resolution bearing that number that blacklists known al-Qaeda members.
But the government is refusing to provide Mr. Abdelrazik or his lawyers with evidence of that support and yesterday it refused to make it public.
"Officials now are making up for what I would suggest is the incompetence of [Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier.] Because they're scrambling to do what he had not initiated, and that is to get Mr. Abdelrazik off the UN list," Mr. Dewar said.
Mr. Abdelrazik has repeatedly denied he has any connection to al-Qaeda or has ever been to Afghanistan, and said he just wants to return to Canada and be reunited with the children he hasn't seen in nearly five years.
Mr. Bernier told the House of Commons this week that Mr. Abdelrazik was being well cared for in the Canadian embassy but his lawyer yesterday said, "Canada's treatment of Mr. Abdelrazik is cruel and extraordinary and is causing him extreme mental suffering."
Yavar Hameed, his Ottawa-based lawyer, said Canadian diplomats in Khartoum were deliberately trying to starve Mr. Abdelrazik into leaving the embassy, only days after he was given refuge.
"Over the weekend, consular staff has stated he will not be fed three meals daily. Consular staff has also stressed that Mr. Abdelrazik's personal amenities are capped at $100 monthly, possibly not enough to go on feeding him throughout May. It appears the Harper government is trying to starve Mr. Abdelrazik out of the embassy," Mr. Hameed said yesterday in a statement.
He also said that Mr. Abdelrazik had been cut off from all information about the furor surrounding his case in Canada, denied access to newspapers, refused contact with Sudanese and Canadian news media and that his telephone calls to his lawyers were now being routed through the Foreign Affairs switchboard in Ottawa where they could be monitored.
"The commitment of Mr. Bernier to provide humanitarian aid and communication with his lawyer is being flagrantly violated," Mr. Hameed said.
Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae said, "if the Canadian government is taking the position that he's not a security risk, then they should get him home." He cannot be left at the embassy in Khartoum while Canada tries to have him removed from a UN no-fly list, Mr. Rae said. "It could be a very lengthy process."
Mr. Dewar said no-fly lists were often unreliable, pointing out that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was embarrassed this week when she was forced to admit that former South African president Nelson Mandela still appears on a U.S. watch list and cannot fly to the United States without special dispensation.
Abdelrazik was imprisoned at Canada's request! This is another clear case that cries out for investigation by Iacobucci but of course his inquiry was framed so narrowly that cases similar to the three he is examining will fall outside the scope of the inquiry. No doubt this is the way the inquiry was PreNot if the government can help it. The Liberals are likely to be useless in this case as well since the request was five years ago when the Liberals were in power. As I pointed out in an earlier post the UN list is itself a legal abomination. I am surprised there is not more criticism of it.
Pressure mounts to repatriate Canadian citizen
Human-rights groups, opposition MPs demand Harper government bring Abdelrazik home
PAUL KORING AND CAMPBELL CLARK
May 3, 2008
Human-rights groups and opposition MPs demanded yesterday that the Harper government repatriate Abousfian Abdelrazik, the Canadian labelled an al-Qaeda threat but now sheltered in the "temporary safe haven" of the Canadian embassy in Khartoum.
Bring him home and charge him in Canada if he is a terrorist, the Harper government was told.
"Get him out of there and bring him home now," said the NDP's foreign affairs critic, Paul Dewar.
"If there are allegations against Mr. Abdelrazik, charges should be laid and he should be tried in Canada," said Ihsaan Gardee, a spokesman for the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Roch Tassé, co-ordinator of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, which represents more than a dozen rights groups across Canada, said Mr. Abdelrazik's plight - left in a foreign prison and then involuntary exile for nearly five years by successive Canadian governments that denied him a passport - echoes that of Maher Arar, the Canadian falsely fingered by the RCMP as a terrorism suspect and later shipped by the United States to Syria where he was tortured in prison.
"Mr. Abdelrazik's case brings to mind the Arar inquiry, and the current Iacobucci inquiry, which is examining the involvement of Canadian officials in the overseas detention and torture of Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El Maati and Muayyed Nureddin," he said.
Mr. Abdelrazik also claims to have been beaten and abused while in prison in Sudan, an incarceration that secret Canadian documents obtained by The Globe and Mail acknowledge was "at our request."
Mr. Abdelrazik, 46, "has a right to travel back to Canada, his country of nationality," said John Tackaberry, spokesman for Amnesty International Canada.
"There are worrying indications that Canadian officials have played a role in the fate that has befallen him, including his arrest, detention, interrogation, listing and effective exile," he added.
Meanwhile, Mr. Abdelrazik was spending his fourth night in the Canadian embassy in Khartoum, facing what may be a long wait while the Harper government seeks to have him taken off the UN Security Council list of al-Qaeda members.
Sean Robertson, a senior foreign affairs official, wrote formally to Mr. Abdelrazik's lawyers last month assuring them that the government of Canada had already "transmitted our support for Mr. Abdelrazik's de-listing request to the 1267 Committee," a reference to the Security Council resolution bearing that number that blacklists known al-Qaeda members.
But the government is refusing to provide Mr. Abdelrazik or his lawyers with evidence of that support and yesterday it refused to make it public.
"Officials now are making up for what I would suggest is the incompetence of [Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier.] Because they're scrambling to do what he had not initiated, and that is to get Mr. Abdelrazik off the UN list," Mr. Dewar said.
Mr. Abdelrazik has repeatedly denied he has any connection to al-Qaeda or has ever been to Afghanistan, and said he just wants to return to Canada and be reunited with the children he hasn't seen in nearly five years.
Mr. Bernier told the House of Commons this week that Mr. Abdelrazik was being well cared for in the Canadian embassy but his lawyer yesterday said, "Canada's treatment of Mr. Abdelrazik is cruel and extraordinary and is causing him extreme mental suffering."
Yavar Hameed, his Ottawa-based lawyer, said Canadian diplomats in Khartoum were deliberately trying to starve Mr. Abdelrazik into leaving the embassy, only days after he was given refuge.
"Over the weekend, consular staff has stated he will not be fed three meals daily. Consular staff has also stressed that Mr. Abdelrazik's personal amenities are capped at $100 monthly, possibly not enough to go on feeding him throughout May. It appears the Harper government is trying to starve Mr. Abdelrazik out of the embassy," Mr. Hameed said yesterday in a statement.
He also said that Mr. Abdelrazik had been cut off from all information about the furor surrounding his case in Canada, denied access to newspapers, refused contact with Sudanese and Canadian news media and that his telephone calls to his lawyers were now being routed through the Foreign Affairs switchboard in Ottawa where they could be monitored.
"The commitment of Mr. Bernier to provide humanitarian aid and communication with his lawyer is being flagrantly violated," Mr. Hameed said.
Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae said, "if the Canadian government is taking the position that he's not a security risk, then they should get him home." He cannot be left at the embassy in Khartoum while Canada tries to have him removed from a UN no-fly list, Mr. Rae said. "It could be a very lengthy process."
Mr. Dewar said no-fly lists were often unreliable, pointing out that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was embarrassed this week when she was forced to admit that former South African president Nelson Mandela still appears on a U.S. watch list and cannot fly to the United States without special dispensation.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Ottawa trying to get Montrealer off UN terrorist list.
This is from the CBC. I just wonder if the CSIS did not manage to get Abdelrazik on this list in the first place. I did not realise there was even such a UN list but it has been around for some time. If the Canadian government really wanted him back then they could have done so since Sudan offered to fly him back. Who are these list keepers accountable to? Can individuals on the list sue anyone for being put on it without good reason?
Ottawa trying to get Montrealer off UN terrorist list: report
Last Updated: Friday, May 2, 2008 | 10:54 AM ET
Canada has been trying to get a Montreal man stranded in Sudan because of alleged links to al-Qaeda off a United Nations list of suspected terrorists, according to reports.
According to an April 18 letter written by the Department of Foreign Affairs to the lawyer of Abousfian Abdelrazik, Canada has "transmitted our support for Mr. Abdelrazik's delisting request to the 1267 Committee."
The letter, obtained by the Globe and Mail, was written by Sean Robertson, the senior foreign affairs official in charge of Abdelrazik's file.
The UN Security Council's 1267 Committee, also known as the the al-Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee, established a blacklist for anyone associated with al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden or the Taliban. The resolutions imposed an asset freeze and travel ban on anyone on the list.
Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier said Abdelrazik is on that list.
"Mr. Abdelrazik is not able to return by his own means because he is on the United Nations list of presumed terrorists and he is suspected of being affiliated with the Taliban or with [al-Qaeda leader Osama] Bin Laden," Bernier said earlier this week.
Abdelrazik, a dual citizen of Canada and Sudan, was detained in Sudan in 2003 while visiting his mother and spent close to two years in prison there. He hasn't been allowed to return to Canada because his name is on a no-fly list and he is unable to get a new passport.
Abdelrazik took temporary refuge in the Canadian Embassy in Khartoum on Monday
Bernier has not commented on the specifics of his case, saying only the matter is being examined by government officials.
But the Foreign Affairs letter, which calls for his removal from the list, appears to be at odds with the opinion of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). Abdelrazik's lawyer said the spy agency suspects his client of having links to al-Qaeda.
Abdelrazik's lawyer also says Ottawa has ignored Sudan's offers to fly Abdelrazik back to Canada on its own airline. He said Ottawa could immediately issue Abdelrazik an emergency passport — his previous one having expired — and bring him back to the country on a government aircraft, but that the process has become convoluted.
Ottawa trying to get Montrealer off UN terrorist list: report
Last Updated: Friday, May 2, 2008 | 10:54 AM ET
Canada has been trying to get a Montreal man stranded in Sudan because of alleged links to al-Qaeda off a United Nations list of suspected terrorists, according to reports.
According to an April 18 letter written by the Department of Foreign Affairs to the lawyer of Abousfian Abdelrazik, Canada has "transmitted our support for Mr. Abdelrazik's delisting request to the 1267 Committee."
The letter, obtained by the Globe and Mail, was written by Sean Robertson, the senior foreign affairs official in charge of Abdelrazik's file.
The UN Security Council's 1267 Committee, also known as the the al-Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee, established a blacklist for anyone associated with al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden or the Taliban. The resolutions imposed an asset freeze and travel ban on anyone on the list.
Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier said Abdelrazik is on that list.
"Mr. Abdelrazik is not able to return by his own means because he is on the United Nations list of presumed terrorists and he is suspected of being affiliated with the Taliban or with [al-Qaeda leader Osama] Bin Laden," Bernier said earlier this week.
Abdelrazik, a dual citizen of Canada and Sudan, was detained in Sudan in 2003 while visiting his mother and spent close to two years in prison there. He hasn't been allowed to return to Canada because his name is on a no-fly list and he is unable to get a new passport.
Abdelrazik took temporary refuge in the Canadian Embassy in Khartoum on Monday
Bernier has not commented on the specifics of his case, saying only the matter is being examined by government officials.
But the Foreign Affairs letter, which calls for his removal from the list, appears to be at odds with the opinion of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). Abdelrazik's lawyer said the spy agency suspects his client of having links to al-Qaeda.
Abdelrazik's lawyer also says Ottawa has ignored Sudan's offers to fly Abdelrazik back to Canada on its own airline. He said Ottawa could immediately issue Abdelrazik an emergency passport — his previous one having expired — and bring him back to the country on a government aircraft, but that the process has become convoluted.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
The Abdelarazik (Sudan) case and the Iacobucci Inquiry
There have been a number of articles about the case of a Canadian citizen in Sudan who was imprisoned in the Sudan at the request of Canadian authorities it seems and whose return to Canada is being sabotaged by his own government. Here is a snippet from a recent Globe and Mail article:
" Officially, Mr. Abdelrazik has been told by Canadian diplomats he's welcome to go home. But his efforts to return have been stymied at every step by Canada's refusal to issue him a passport, the claim that they can do nothing about his "no-fly" status, and perhaps most startlingly, by thwarting offers by Sudan to fly him back to Canada.
The document trail obtained by The Globe ends in early 2006, but Mr. Abdelrazik's limbo continues. He remains under police surveillance in Khartoum. He makes frequent visits to the Canadian embassy, which has been doling him out $100 a month from a special fund for distressed citizens. He's being allowed to telephone his family in Montreal, but the embassy hasn't issued him a passport or travel documents, which could hold the key to his return.
At the same time, he is a Canadian citizen facing no charges, and in a world of unsubstantiated security targeting, a suspected terrorist believed to be so dangerous that he must be kept out of North America.
The trove of documents makes clear that the "highest levels" of both the past Liberal and the current Conservative governments were kept fully informed of Mr. Abdelrazik's case and concurred in its handling. More recently, Mr. Abdelrazik's lawyers sent letters to Prime Minister Stephen Harper demanding his intervention. Last month, officials from Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier's office met with Mr. Abdelrazik in Khartoum.
Late last week, The Globe and Mail sent the Harper government written questions concerning Mr. Abdelrazik's case, including asking why the government had decided to deny a Canadian citizen a passport and had failed to repatriate him. No replies have been received from Mr. Bernier's office.
Documents make it clear one of Ottawa's biggest concerns was the potential political furor if the case became public. Briefing notes, cleared by CSIS and the intelligence sections of Foreign Affairs, were prepared to carefully coach ministers. They include carefully worded replies to questions about whether Canadian authorities shared intelligence about Mr. Abdelrazik with the Sudanese or U.S. governments, whether Canada was the originator of information that resulted in on him being placed on "no-fly" lists and how to respond if asked about parallels to Maher Arar's case, in which another Canadian originally fingered by CSIS ended up being tortured in a Syrian prison."
The same putrid policy has been consistently followed by both Liberal and Conservative governments. The Arar case showed how clueless and uncareful the CSIS and RCMP(in particular were). Parallels are drawn between the two cases. However, there are even more similarities with the three cases being investigated by the Iacobucci Inquiry. So secretive and out of the media limelight is the Inquiry that so far I have not even seen mention of this parallel. Here is the preamble to the terms of reference of the Iacobucci Inquiry:
"whether the detention of Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abou-Elmaati and Muayyed Nureddin in Syria or Egypt resulted, directly or indirectly, from actions of Canadian officials, particularly in relation to the sharing of information with foreign countries and, if so, whether those actions were deficient in the circumstances,
whether there were deficiencies in the actions taken by Canadian officials to provide consular services to Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abou-Elmaati and Muayyed Nureddin while they were detained in Syria or Egypt, and
whether any mistreatment of Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abou-Elmaati and Muayyed Nureddin in Syria or Egypt resulted, directly or indirectly, from actions of Canadian officials, particularly in relation to the sharing of information with foreign countries and, if so, whether those actions were deficient in the circumstances;"
All of these three were imprisoned in Syria or in one case Egypt seemingly on information provided by Canadian authorities and all seem to have been interrogated using questions supplied by Canadian intelligence. Iacobucci should be investigating this case as well but he won't since his mandate is too narrow. Iacobucci is to report in September after an extension of time from January.
" Officially, Mr. Abdelrazik has been told by Canadian diplomats he's welcome to go home. But his efforts to return have been stymied at every step by Canada's refusal to issue him a passport, the claim that they can do nothing about his "no-fly" status, and perhaps most startlingly, by thwarting offers by Sudan to fly him back to Canada.
The document trail obtained by The Globe ends in early 2006, but Mr. Abdelrazik's limbo continues. He remains under police surveillance in Khartoum. He makes frequent visits to the Canadian embassy, which has been doling him out $100 a month from a special fund for distressed citizens. He's being allowed to telephone his family in Montreal, but the embassy hasn't issued him a passport or travel documents, which could hold the key to his return.
At the same time, he is a Canadian citizen facing no charges, and in a world of unsubstantiated security targeting, a suspected terrorist believed to be so dangerous that he must be kept out of North America.
The trove of documents makes clear that the "highest levels" of both the past Liberal and the current Conservative governments were kept fully informed of Mr. Abdelrazik's case and concurred in its handling. More recently, Mr. Abdelrazik's lawyers sent letters to Prime Minister Stephen Harper demanding his intervention. Last month, officials from Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier's office met with Mr. Abdelrazik in Khartoum.
Late last week, The Globe and Mail sent the Harper government written questions concerning Mr. Abdelrazik's case, including asking why the government had decided to deny a Canadian citizen a passport and had failed to repatriate him. No replies have been received from Mr. Bernier's office.
Documents make it clear one of Ottawa's biggest concerns was the potential political furor if the case became public. Briefing notes, cleared by CSIS and the intelligence sections of Foreign Affairs, were prepared to carefully coach ministers. They include carefully worded replies to questions about whether Canadian authorities shared intelligence about Mr. Abdelrazik with the Sudanese or U.S. governments, whether Canada was the originator of information that resulted in on him being placed on "no-fly" lists and how to respond if asked about parallels to Maher Arar's case, in which another Canadian originally fingered by CSIS ended up being tortured in a Syrian prison."
The same putrid policy has been consistently followed by both Liberal and Conservative governments. The Arar case showed how clueless and uncareful the CSIS and RCMP(in particular were). Parallels are drawn between the two cases. However, there are even more similarities with the three cases being investigated by the Iacobucci Inquiry. So secretive and out of the media limelight is the Inquiry that so far I have not even seen mention of this parallel. Here is the preamble to the terms of reference of the Iacobucci Inquiry:
"whether the detention of Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abou-Elmaati and Muayyed Nureddin in Syria or Egypt resulted, directly or indirectly, from actions of Canadian officials, particularly in relation to the sharing of information with foreign countries and, if so, whether those actions were deficient in the circumstances,
whether there were deficiencies in the actions taken by Canadian officials to provide consular services to Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abou-Elmaati and Muayyed Nureddin while they were detained in Syria or Egypt, and
whether any mistreatment of Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abou-Elmaati and Muayyed Nureddin in Syria or Egypt resulted, directly or indirectly, from actions of Canadian officials, particularly in relation to the sharing of information with foreign countries and, if so, whether those actions were deficient in the circumstances;"
All of these three were imprisoned in Syria or in one case Egypt seemingly on information provided by Canadian authorities and all seem to have been interrogated using questions supplied by Canadian intelligence. Iacobucci should be investigating this case as well but he won't since his mandate is too narrow. Iacobucci is to report in September after an extension of time from January.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Ottawa reviews case of Canadian stuck in Sudan
This is from the Star. This is another case Iacobucci should be looking at. Of course no one will. The Iacobucci inquiry is virtually invisible these days and the mandate is so narrow that there is no way Iacobucci would look at the case even though the situation is in some ways identical to what happened to Almalki et al.
This article does not even mention the no fly issue for some reason. The Canadian government obviously tipped off the Sudanese government and Abdelrazak was subsequently imprisoned and interrogated. As with the U.S. intelligence services our intelligence services think nothing of turning suspects over to be imprisoned in places we know practice torture. I just wonder what Iacobucci will conclude not that it will matter much. His inquiry has no concern at all with clearing Almalki, et al of any wrongdoing as the Arar inquiry did. Of course no one has paid for the "mistakes" made by intelligence services in the Arar case. Some involved have since been promoted.
Ottawa reviews case of Canadian stuck in Sudan
TheStar.com - Canada - Ottawa reviews case of Canadian stuck in Sudan
April 29, 2008
Alexander Panetta
THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA–A man stranded in Sudan took refuge in the Canadian embassy in Khartoum while seeking a resolution today to his five-year ordeal.
A lawyer for Sudanese-Canadian Abousfian Abdelrazik says his client has been allowed to stay at the embassy and plans to remain there until he gets answers from Ottawa.
Lawyer Yavar Hameed is accusing the federal government of duplicity and disinformation, with a mounting trail of evidence suggesting it has been blocking efforts to bring his client home.
Abdelrazik went to visit his ailing mother in 2003 and was caught in legal limbo after accusations he has terrorist ties; no criminal charges have been filed against the former Montrealer.
He suffers from asthma, heart problems, and an ulcer, and is living on a $100 monthly loan from the Canadian government.
Abdelrazik's ex-wife has demanded that Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier deal with his case.
"He is not a terrorist. He is a Muslim. He is a practising Muslim but a peaceful Muslim," said Myriam St-Hilaire.
"He is a Canadian citizen and he has rights and I'm just asking the government to take in consideration this fact."
She said their son is only 5 years old and doesn't understand what has happened to his father – whom he can't even remember.
"I'm asking Mr. Bernier: What am I supposed to answer him when he grows up and he tells me, `Why wasn't my dad able to be next to me when I was a child?"' St-Hilaire said.
"Mr. Bernier, what am I supposed to answer him?"
Hameed said his client's only contact with Bernier's office has seemed more like an inquisition than consular assistance.
He said Bernier's chief of staff and Conservative MP Deepak Obhrai peppered him with questions about his views on the 9-11 attacks, and on the state of Israel.
He said the Canadian government has done nothing to renew his client's passport or get his name off a no-fly list so that he can take a commercial flight home. He said Ottawa has also rejected an offer from the Sudanese government to fly him to Canada.
Bernier's office said it was reviewing the case, but added that Abdelrazik remains a terrorism suspect. After avoiding comment for two days, the foreign minister's office issued a statement:
"We continue to provide Mr. Abdelrazik with consular assistance. Services include medical and financial assistance, facilitating communications with family and lawyers, as well as providing 'temporary safe haven' at our embassy in Khartoum," the statement said.
"Mr. Abdelrazik is unable to return to Canada of his own accord because he is currently on the United Nations list of terrorism suspects alleged to be affiliated with Al Qaeda, the Taliban or Osama bin Laden."
During Abdelrazik's visit to see his mother, he was arrested by Sudanese officials on a tip from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, said his lawyer.
He was released when investigators found no evidence to support criminal charges.
This article does not even mention the no fly issue for some reason. The Canadian government obviously tipped off the Sudanese government and Abdelrazak was subsequently imprisoned and interrogated. As with the U.S. intelligence services our intelligence services think nothing of turning suspects over to be imprisoned in places we know practice torture. I just wonder what Iacobucci will conclude not that it will matter much. His inquiry has no concern at all with clearing Almalki, et al of any wrongdoing as the Arar inquiry did. Of course no one has paid for the "mistakes" made by intelligence services in the Arar case. Some involved have since been promoted.
Ottawa reviews case of Canadian stuck in Sudan
TheStar.com - Canada - Ottawa reviews case of Canadian stuck in Sudan
April 29, 2008
Alexander Panetta
THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA–A man stranded in Sudan took refuge in the Canadian embassy in Khartoum while seeking a resolution today to his five-year ordeal.
A lawyer for Sudanese-Canadian Abousfian Abdelrazik says his client has been allowed to stay at the embassy and plans to remain there until he gets answers from Ottawa.
Lawyer Yavar Hameed is accusing the federal government of duplicity and disinformation, with a mounting trail of evidence suggesting it has been blocking efforts to bring his client home.
Abdelrazik went to visit his ailing mother in 2003 and was caught in legal limbo after accusations he has terrorist ties; no criminal charges have been filed against the former Montrealer.
He suffers from asthma, heart problems, and an ulcer, and is living on a $100 monthly loan from the Canadian government.
Abdelrazik's ex-wife has demanded that Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier deal with his case.
"He is not a terrorist. He is a Muslim. He is a practising Muslim but a peaceful Muslim," said Myriam St-Hilaire.
"He is a Canadian citizen and he has rights and I'm just asking the government to take in consideration this fact."
She said their son is only 5 years old and doesn't understand what has happened to his father – whom he can't even remember.
"I'm asking Mr. Bernier: What am I supposed to answer him when he grows up and he tells me, `Why wasn't my dad able to be next to me when I was a child?"' St-Hilaire said.
"Mr. Bernier, what am I supposed to answer him?"
Hameed said his client's only contact with Bernier's office has seemed more like an inquisition than consular assistance.
He said Bernier's chief of staff and Conservative MP Deepak Obhrai peppered him with questions about his views on the 9-11 attacks, and on the state of Israel.
He said the Canadian government has done nothing to renew his client's passport or get his name off a no-fly list so that he can take a commercial flight home. He said Ottawa has also rejected an offer from the Sudanese government to fly him to Canada.
Bernier's office said it was reviewing the case, but added that Abdelrazik remains a terrorism suspect. After avoiding comment for two days, the foreign minister's office issued a statement:
"We continue to provide Mr. Abdelrazik with consular assistance. Services include medical and financial assistance, facilitating communications with family and lawyers, as well as providing 'temporary safe haven' at our embassy in Khartoum," the statement said.
"Mr. Abdelrazik is unable to return to Canada of his own accord because he is currently on the United Nations list of terrorism suspects alleged to be affiliated with Al Qaeda, the Taliban or Osama bin Laden."
During Abdelrazik's visit to see his mother, he was arrested by Sudanese officials on a tip from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, said his lawyer.
He was released when investigators found no evidence to support criminal charges.
Family of Canadian stranded by no-fly list to make public appeal.
This is from the CBC. I wonder if there are no sail lists and no bus lists as well. You would think that Abdelrazik could travel by land and then sea if he can't fly.
It looks very much as if Canada again is involved in rendition lite. Rendition lite is opportunistic in that Canada waits until someone whom they want to interrogate goes to another country and then they inform the country that the person is a terror suspect. The person is then imprisoned and interrogated and often tortured as well. In the war on terror you are guilty until the authorities decide otherwise. Maybe one of those U.S. rendition planes is flying empty back to North America and Abdelrazik could hitch a ride.
Family of Canadian stranded by no-fly list to make public appeal
Last Updated: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 | 8:14 AM ET Comments37Recommend18CBC News
Abousfian Abdelrazik The family of a Montreal man stranded in Sudan for five years because he's on a no-fly list will make a public plea to the Canadian government Tuesday to help bring him home.
"The family just wants to deliver a very clear message … to our prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, simply to bring [him] back. The children want their father back in Canada," his lawyer, Yavar Hameed told CBC News. "He has a life here, he has connections here, and they want him back."
Abousfian Abdelrazik, who was detained by Sudanese authorities while visiting his mother in 2003, has since been released from jail, but remains under police surveillance. Abdelrazik, who is a dual citizen of Canada and Sudan, hasn't been charged with any crime in either country.
Hameed said his client has been deemed a security threat over Canadian Security Intelligence Service suspicions that he's an al-Qaeda agent, something he denies. CSIS documents suggest it was CSIS agents who asked the Sudanese government to arrest Abdelrazik, Hameed said.
Ottawa has been putting up roadblocks to thwart Abdelrazik's attempts to return to Canada, Hameed said, adding that Canada has ignored Sudan's offers to facilitate Abdelrazik's return to Canada.
He said that while Foreign Affairs has said it's been doing everything it can to bring Abdelrazik back, that's clearly not the case.
"The government has been suppressing information, been giving misinformation, has not been telling us what's going on."
Hameed said the Canadian government is willing to offer Abdelrazik one-time travel documents. But Hameed said that's no help because Abdelrazik is still on the no-fly list, no airline will take him, and the Canadian government isn't offering any more help.
Foreign Affairs refused to comment on the case, citing privacy concerns.
It looks very much as if Canada again is involved in rendition lite. Rendition lite is opportunistic in that Canada waits until someone whom they want to interrogate goes to another country and then they inform the country that the person is a terror suspect. The person is then imprisoned and interrogated and often tortured as well. In the war on terror you are guilty until the authorities decide otherwise. Maybe one of those U.S. rendition planes is flying empty back to North America and Abdelrazik could hitch a ride.
Family of Canadian stranded by no-fly list to make public appeal
Last Updated: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 | 8:14 AM ET Comments37Recommend18CBC News
Abousfian Abdelrazik The family of a Montreal man stranded in Sudan for five years because he's on a no-fly list will make a public plea to the Canadian government Tuesday to help bring him home.
"The family just wants to deliver a very clear message … to our prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, simply to bring [him] back. The children want their father back in Canada," his lawyer, Yavar Hameed told CBC News. "He has a life here, he has connections here, and they want him back."
Abousfian Abdelrazik, who was detained by Sudanese authorities while visiting his mother in 2003, has since been released from jail, but remains under police surveillance. Abdelrazik, who is a dual citizen of Canada and Sudan, hasn't been charged with any crime in either country.
Hameed said his client has been deemed a security threat over Canadian Security Intelligence Service suspicions that he's an al-Qaeda agent, something he denies. CSIS documents suggest it was CSIS agents who asked the Sudanese government to arrest Abdelrazik, Hameed said.
Ottawa has been putting up roadblocks to thwart Abdelrazik's attempts to return to Canada, Hameed said, adding that Canada has ignored Sudan's offers to facilitate Abdelrazik's return to Canada.
He said that while Foreign Affairs has said it's been doing everything it can to bring Abdelrazik back, that's clearly not the case.
"The government has been suppressing information, been giving misinformation, has not been telling us what's going on."
Hameed said the Canadian government is willing to offer Abdelrazik one-time travel documents. But Hameed said that's no help because Abdelrazik is still on the no-fly list, no airline will take him, and the Canadian government isn't offering any more help.
Foreign Affairs refused to comment on the case, citing privacy concerns.
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