Abousfian Abdelrazik
Encyclopedia
Abousfian Abdelrazik or Abu Sufian Abd Al-Razziq is a Sudan
ese-born Canadian
dual citizen. On July 23, 2006 the United States Department of the Treasury designated him as a supporter of al-Qaeda and a terrorist, but he was subsequently cleared in multiple investigations by the Sudanese government, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service
(CSIS), and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
(RCMP). Following his imprisonment in Sudan, the Canadian government would not grant him travel papers and otherwise blocked his return to Canada. On June 4, 2009, the Federal Court
ruled that his citizenship rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
had been violated and ordered the Canadian government to facilitate his return. On June 27, 2009, Abdelrazik flew to Canada.
Prior to his removal from the list, he was the only living Canadian on the United Nations
security council blacklist
, usually referred to as the "1267 List" after the number of the Security Council resolution which established it. The 1267 regime imposes sanctions on listed individuals, including a complete asset freeze and a ban on international travel. Upon his return to Canada, he sued the government for C$24-million, and C$3-million more for Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon
's alleged “misfeasance in public office.” He has also launched a constitutional challenge to legislation implementing the 1267 regime in Canada. Abdelrazik's experience has been said to be similar to other Canadians such as Maher Arar
, Abdullah Almalki
, Ahmad El Maati, and Muayyed Nureddin
. Abdelrazik claims that he was tortured while in detention in Sudan and the Canadian government has admitted in court submissions that two CSIS agents interrogated him while he was in Sudanese custody.
Abdelrazik was removed from the United Nations security council blacklist on November 30, 2011.
, and fled to Canada as a refugee in 1990. In 1992 he was granted landed immigrant status. He married a French Canadian woman in 1994, and they soon had a daughter together. He became a Canadian citizen in 1995. Muslims who know him have characterized him as a devout Muslim who "often read the Koran to the sick and was paid as a healer". In an interview with Globe and Mail he stated that he has traveled to many places including such countries as Pakistan and Bosnia. He states that he was only involved in humanitarian work, to help people. He further stated that, "my humanitarian trips abroad were funded by my religious work as a Muslim healer in Montreal and also through donations from many individuals in the Muslim community".
Abousfian felt it necessary to state why he didn't list the names of his supporters in a letter to the editor of Globe and Mail,"On the urging of my lawyers...I had earned the money by reciting alms. I had not wanted to invite scrutiny of those who paid me, knowing where guilt by association can lead".
In 2000, Abdelrazik voluntarily testified via videolink at the trial of Ahmed Ressam
, the "millennium bomber".
He testified he knew Ahmed Ressam when he met him at the Montreal's Assuna Annabawiah mosque, but had no knowledge of his plans to attack targets in the USA and knew nothing about his whereabouts since he last saw him in Vancouver. In 2001 his first wife died of cancer. While in the Sudan in 2004 his second wife divorced him. He returned to Montreal in June 2009, after Federal Court justice Russel Zinn ruled that the Canadian government must cease violating his rights by failing to facilitate his return.
Shortly after his second release, the UN's 1267 Committee
added him to their list of individuals and entities suspected of belonging to or associated with the Taliban and Al-Qaida. After his second release, Canada refused to renew his passport or provide him with a travel document, leaving him unable to travel on commercial airlines. Canada went so far as to refuse to allow Sudan to transport him to Canada at their expense on a Sudanese government aircraft. Government aircraft are exempt from the flight ban list which only applies to commercial airlines. Although his Canadian passport had expired, the Canadian government could have issued temporary travel papers to get him to Canada.
The Globe and Mail reports that it has acquired documents in contradiction to previous Canadian government statements that it had not requested Abdelrazik's detention. Their report states the documents they obtained show Canada had requested his detention, in 2003. It states Canadian officials had participated in his interrogation in October 2003. In June 2009, the Federal Court of Canada agreed, ruling that, based on the internal government documents it had reviewed, it was probable that Abdelrazik was detained on the request of CSIS. While he was stuck in Sudan, Canadian diplomat Sean Robertson secretly cabled the Canadian embassy personal stating, "Mission staff should not accompany Abdelrazik to his interview with the FBI", and Sudanese intelligence agents.
According to Canadian government submissions in a Federal Court case, Abousfian was interrogated by two Canadian Security Intelligence Service
agents while in Sudanese detention, under threat of torture and without charge. Canadian official Sean Robertson ordered Canadian ambassadorial staff to not attempt to monitor the Federal Bureau of Investigation
's (FBI) interrogation, after Abdelrazik had requested that they accompany him to the interrogation. At the interrogation, the FBI threatened that he would "never return to Canada" if he did not agree to work with them. Embassy staff compromised with Abdelrazik and told him they would phone him immediately after the scheduled interrogation was over, but when they called, there was no answer. Meanwhile however, assurances were being given to Canadian Parliament that he was receiving full consular protection.
During a news conference upon his return to Canada, Abousfian summarized his story of six years of exile. According to Abousfian, CSIS stated that, "Sudan will be your Guantanamo". He also described how a CSIS agent interviewed him before he left for the Sudan and was also his interrogator in the Sudan - a fact that was subsequently admitted by CSIS in court documents. During that interview in 2003 Abdelrazik said that the CSIS agent told him he would "never see Canada again". Abousfian also repudiated every allegation that the US government made against him, including the accusations that he: knew Osama bin Laden, fought in Chechnya, trained in Afghanistan, and was a key al-Qaeda operative.
Details have emerged due to the media attention to his case. In May 2009 the Globe and Mail published new reports on the role Canadian authorities played in Abdelrazik's apprehension.
On October 29, 2009, Richard Fadden the head of CSIS stated that civil-rights advocates and media present a distorted picture of, "terror suspects are too often portrayed as romantic revolutionaries". He was referring to Abdelrazik and a few other accused suspects. He went on to state,"So why then, I ask, are those accused of terrorist offences often portrayed in media as quasi-folk heroes despite the harsh statements of numerous judges. Why are they always photographed with their children, giving tender-hearted profiles and more or less taken at their word when they accuse CSIS or other government agencies of abusing them?...A more balanced presentation is what I'm hoping for."
in which the two men discuss blowing up an airliner flying from Montreal to France. According to La Presse, the CSIS authors also state that traces of RDX
were found during a search of Abdelrazik's vehicle in October 2001.
According to the Globe and Mail a listing on a US list should have been insufficient to bar him from returning to Canada, and yet due to this listing, he was stuck in Sudan for a further five years.
The Globe and Mail reported that Canada was under pressure to help the USA get Abdelrazik sent to the Guantanamo Bay detention camps.
designated Abdelrazik as a supporter of al-Qaeda
and a terrorist, "for his high-level ties to and support for al-Qaeda." According to the Globe and Mail, the U.S. State Department believes, "Mr. Abdelrazik was “closely associated with Abu Zubaydah
, Osama bin Laden's lieutenant responsible for recruiting and for al-Qaeda's network of training camps in Afghanistan.” The United States also alleges Mr. Abdelrazik recruited and accompanied a Tunisian extremist named Raouf Hannachi
for paramilitary training at a camp in Afghanistan in 1996 “where al-Qaeda and other UN-sanctioned terrorist groups were known to train,” and became personally acquainted with Mr. bin Laden". In April 2011, Wikileaks
revealed that a November 2008 U.S. Department of Defence document stated that Abdelrazik had admitted receiving $10 000 from alleged al-Qaeda financier Hassan Zemiri, who was captured in late 2001 in Tora Bora, Afghanistan. However, none of these allegations have been proven in a court of law and Abdelrazik has never been charged with any crime, in Canada or anywhere else in the world. Eight days after he was designated a terrorist by the US, he was added to the UN Security Council terrorist blacklist (not a no fly list) by the U.S. and is now the only living Canadian on that list. According to the Globe and mail,"any country can nominate anyone they consider to be an islamic extremist. All his personal assets were frozen once he was put on that list. Individuals on the list are subject to a sanctions regime which include an asset freeze and a ban on international travel (but not flight per se). According to a letter sent on April 18, 2008, by the Department of Foreign Affairs to Abousfian Abdelrazik's lawyer, the Canadian government requested the UN's 1267 Committee
to remove Abdelrazik from its list of al Qaeda supporters.
A request was made to the UN on December 10, 2007, but was vetoed with no explanation eleven days later, meaning that at least one of the 15 members of the Security Council raised an objection. Canada has repeatedly stated that it continues to support removing Abdelrazik from the list, but has not clarified whether it was the country which originally asked for his inclusion. Critics of the blacklist have commented that Abdelrazik's status is typical, since it is far easier to be added to the list than removed.
, which was willing to fly him despite the fact that his presence on the U.S. no-fly list meant that any airline which transports him will no longer be able to enter U.S. airspace, thus eliminating most international commercial airlines. His flight was due to leave on September 15, 2008, but Abdelrazik was not able to leave Sudan because Ottawa refused to issue him travel documents. (He was issued a special one-use emergency passport valid for only two weeks after his 2004 release, but at the time could not find an airline willing to transport him.)
On March 12, 2009, 115 supporters of Abdelrazik presented a ticket for his flight to the Canadian government. The government's position was that he needed to have a pre-paid flight ticket, but that any Canadian who donated money to purchase such a ticket could be charged under Canadian anti-terrorism legislation implementing the Security Council's sanctions against people on their blacklist. The donors included former solicitor-general Warren Allmand
, political science professor at the University of Toronto Joseph Carens
, and Canadian peace activist and former Iraq hostage James Loney.
On April 3, 2009, this letter was received by Abousfian Abdelrazik's lawyer in Ottawa, Canada. Counsel for the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Donna Blois, in a one line letter notifies that the minister has refused to grant an emergency passport pursuant to section 10.1 of the Canadian Passport Order which states: "10.1 Without limiting the generality of subsections 4(3) and (4) and for greater certainty, the Minister may refuse or revoke a passport if the Minister is of the opinion that such action is necessary for the national security of Canada or another country."
According to the Lawyer's Weekly, "the government argued that the Charter only guarantees the rights of citizens to enter Canada once they present themselves at the border, and since Abdelrazik is not at the Canadian border, he has no rights.
The House of Commons
Foreign Affairs Committee passed a motion requesting Abdelrazik testify before it.
Member of Parliament
Paul Dewar
stated the request should require the Government to drop its efforts to block Abdelrazik's return.
On May 7 and 8, 2009, the Federal Court
heard arguments from Abdelrazik's lawyers, who asked the court to order the federal government to facilitate Abdelrazik's return to Canada. His legal argument was rooted in Section 6 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
, which states in part that "Every citizen of Canada has the right to enter, remain in and leave Canada."
On June 4, Federal Judge Russel Zinn ruled the government had violated his constitutional rights and must fly him to Canada before July 7. Justice Zinn stated that Mr. Abdelrazik, "is as much a victim of international terrorism as the innocent persons whose lives have been taken by recent barbaric acts of terrorists". The Globe and Mail stated, "In a toughly worded 107-page ruling, Judge Zinn pilloried the government's claims of trying to help Mr. Abdelrazik, concluded that Canadian anti-terrorism agents were implicated in his imprisonment in Sudan, denounced the UN terrorist blacklist as an affront to justice and basic human rights and slammed Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon for high-handedly ignoring due process of law". In response to public demands by opposition parties that Ottawa should stop fighting the case, Justice Minister
Rob Nicholson
said government lawyers would need time to review the 107-page decision before deciding on a course of action.
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
ese-born Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
dual citizen. On July 23, 2006 the United States Department of the Treasury designated him as a supporter of al-Qaeda and a terrorist, but he was subsequently cleared in multiple investigations by the Sudanese government, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service
Canadian Security Intelligence Service
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service is Canada's national intelligence service. It is responsible for collecting, analyzing, reporting and disseminating intelligence on threats to Canada's national security, and conducting operations, covert and overt, within Canada and abroad.Its...
(CSIS), and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
(RCMP). Following his imprisonment in Sudan, the Canadian government would not grant him travel papers and otherwise blocked his return to Canada. On June 4, 2009, the Federal Court
Federal Court (Canada)
The Federal Court is a Canadian trial court that hears cases arising under certain areas of federal law. The Federal Court is a superior court with nationwide jurisdiction...
ruled that his citizenship rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982...
had been violated and ordered the Canadian government to facilitate his return. On June 27, 2009, Abdelrazik flew to Canada.
Prior to his removal from the list, he was the only living Canadian on the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
security council blacklist
Blacklist
A blacklist is a list or register of entities who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. As a verb, to blacklist can mean to deny someone work in a particular field, or to ostracize a person from a certain social circle...
, usually referred to as the "1267 List" after the number of the Security Council resolution which established it. The 1267 regime imposes sanctions on listed individuals, including a complete asset freeze and a ban on international travel. Upon his return to Canada, he sued the government for C$24-million, and C$3-million more for Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon
Lawrence Cannon
Lawrence Cannon, PC is a Canadian politician from Quebec and Prime Minister Stephen Harper's former Quebec lieutenant. On October 30, 2008 he was sworn in as Minister of Foreign Affairs...
's alleged “misfeasance in public office.” He has also launched a constitutional challenge to legislation implementing the 1267 regime in Canada. Abdelrazik's experience has been said to be similar to other Canadians such as Maher Arar
Maher Arar
Maher Arar is a telecommunications engineer with dual Syrian and Canadian citizenship who resides in Canada. Arar's story is frequently referred to as "extraordinary rendition" but the U.S. government insisted it was a case of deportation.Arar was detained during a layover at John F...
, Abdullah Almalki
Abdullah Almalki
Abdullah Almalki is a Syrian-Canadian engineer who was imprisoned and tortured for two years in a Syrian jail after Canadian officials falsely indicated to the Syrian authorities and other countries that he was a terrorist threat....
, Ahmad El Maati, and Muayyed Nureddin
Muayyed Nureddin
An Iraqi-born Canadian geologist, Muayyed Nureddin was imprisoned in similar circumstances to Maher Arar in Syria. He claims to have been beaten and interrogated about his connection to a Toronto Islamic school; and has called for a public inquiry into the role of Canadian officials in his...
. Abdelrazik claims that he was tortured while in detention in Sudan and the Canadian government has admitted in court submissions that two CSIS agents interrogated him while he was in Sudanese custody.
Abdelrazik was removed from the United Nations security council blacklist on November 30, 2011.
Life
Abdelrazik was born in Sudan on January 1, 1962. He initially trained as a machinist and got married. He was imprisoned for his political views after the 1989 military coup by Omar al-BashirOmar al-Bashir
Lieutenant General Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir is the current President of Sudan and the head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister...
, and fled to Canada as a refugee in 1990. In 1992 he was granted landed immigrant status. He married a French Canadian woman in 1994, and they soon had a daughter together. He became a Canadian citizen in 1995. Muslims who know him have characterized him as a devout Muslim who "often read the Koran to the sick and was paid as a healer". In an interview with Globe and Mail he stated that he has traveled to many places including such countries as Pakistan and Bosnia. He states that he was only involved in humanitarian work, to help people. He further stated that, "my humanitarian trips abroad were funded by my religious work as a Muslim healer in Montreal and also through donations from many individuals in the Muslim community".
Abousfian felt it necessary to state why he didn't list the names of his supporters in a letter to the editor of Globe and Mail,"On the urging of my lawyers...I had earned the money by reciting alms. I had not wanted to invite scrutiny of those who paid me, knowing where guilt by association can lead".
In 2000, Abdelrazik voluntarily testified via videolink at the trial of Ahmed Ressam
Ahmed Ressam
Ahmed Ressam is an Algerian al-Qaeda member who lived in Montreal, Canada.He was convicted of attempting to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport on New Year's Eve 1999, as part of the foiled 2000 millennium attack plots...
, the "millennium bomber".
He testified he knew Ahmed Ressam when he met him at the Montreal's Assuna Annabawiah mosque, but had no knowledge of his plans to attack targets in the USA and knew nothing about his whereabouts since he last saw him in Vancouver. In 2001 his first wife died of cancer. While in the Sudan in 2004 his second wife divorced him. He returned to Montreal in June 2009, after Federal Court justice Russel Zinn ruled that the Canadian government must cease violating his rights by failing to facilitate his return.
Imprisoned and then stranded in Sudan
In the spring of 2003, Abdelrazik went back to the Sudan. According to Abdelrazik, he returned in order to visit his sick mother, but according to the affidavit of an Abdelrazik associate, he left Canada because of harrassment by CSIS agents. In Sudan he was arrested but never charged. According to the Lawyers Weekly, "documents reveal that Sudanese officials arrested him at Canada’s request". The People's Commission on Immigration and Security Measures claims that Mr. Abdelrazik was "repeatedly beaten and tortured" in Sudanese custody. In an affidavit this year, he admits to telling his interrogators "what they wanted to hear", whether or not it was true. He was released in July 2004, having been detained since the previous September. His family bought him a plane ticket to Montreal but the airlines refused to transport him because his name had been place on the US no-fly list. Sudan then forced him to live in a police owned and monitored house. In September, his wife in Montreal divorced him, and the following month Abdelrazik married a Sudanese woman, with whom he had a child the following year. On October 10, 2004, Sudan offered Canada to fly him on a private plane if the countries shared the cost. Canada informed Sudan that it would not share the costs or provide an escort. On July 26, 2005, Sudan's Minister of Justice issued Mr. Abdelrazik with a formal document exonerating him. We "did not find any evidence'" linking him to terrorism or crime or al-Qaeda". Abousfian was re-arrested in November 2005, and finally released again in July 2006,Shortly after his second release, the UN's 1267 Committee
United Nations Security Council Committee 1267
The 1267 Committee , was established on 15 October 1999, pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 1267 concerning Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and/or the Taliban and associated individuals and entities. The 1267 Committee is one of three Security Council committees dealing with counter-terrorism...
added him to their list of individuals and entities suspected of belonging to or associated with the Taliban and Al-Qaida. After his second release, Canada refused to renew his passport or provide him with a travel document, leaving him unable to travel on commercial airlines. Canada went so far as to refuse to allow Sudan to transport him to Canada at their expense on a Sudanese government aircraft. Government aircraft are exempt from the flight ban list which only applies to commercial airlines. Although his Canadian passport had expired, the Canadian government could have issued temporary travel papers to get him to Canada.
Involvement of Canadian and American intelligence agencies
CSIS had been interested in Mr. Abdelrazik since 1999 – and perhaps earlier – when he associated with several other Muslim men whose profiles came under suspicion.The Globe and Mail reports that it has acquired documents in contradiction to previous Canadian government statements that it had not requested Abdelrazik's detention. Their report states the documents they obtained show Canada had requested his detention, in 2003. It states Canadian officials had participated in his interrogation in October 2003. In June 2009, the Federal Court of Canada agreed, ruling that, based on the internal government documents it had reviewed, it was probable that Abdelrazik was detained on the request of CSIS. While he was stuck in Sudan, Canadian diplomat Sean Robertson secretly cabled the Canadian embassy personal stating, "Mission staff should not accompany Abdelrazik to his interview with the FBI", and Sudanese intelligence agents.
According to Canadian government submissions in a Federal Court case, Abousfian was interrogated by two Canadian Security Intelligence Service
Canadian Security Intelligence Service
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service is Canada's national intelligence service. It is responsible for collecting, analyzing, reporting and disseminating intelligence on threats to Canada's national security, and conducting operations, covert and overt, within Canada and abroad.Its...
agents while in Sudanese detention, under threat of torture and without charge. Canadian official Sean Robertson ordered Canadian ambassadorial staff to not attempt to monitor the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
's (FBI) interrogation, after Abdelrazik had requested that they accompany him to the interrogation. At the interrogation, the FBI threatened that he would "never return to Canada" if he did not agree to work with them. Embassy staff compromised with Abdelrazik and told him they would phone him immediately after the scheduled interrogation was over, but when they called, there was no answer. Meanwhile however, assurances were being given to Canadian Parliament that he was receiving full consular protection.
During a news conference upon his return to Canada, Abousfian summarized his story of six years of exile. According to Abousfian, CSIS stated that, "Sudan will be your Guantanamo". He also described how a CSIS agent interviewed him before he left for the Sudan and was also his interrogator in the Sudan - a fact that was subsequently admitted by CSIS in court documents. During that interview in 2003 Abdelrazik said that the CSIS agent told him he would "never see Canada again". Abousfian also repudiated every allegation that the US government made against him, including the accusations that he: knew Osama bin Laden, fought in Chechnya, trained in Afghanistan, and was a key al-Qaeda operative.
Details have emerged due to the media attention to his case. In May 2009 the Globe and Mail published new reports on the role Canadian authorities played in Abdelrazik's apprehension.
On October 29, 2009, Richard Fadden the head of CSIS stated that civil-rights advocates and media present a distorted picture of, "terror suspects are too often portrayed as romantic revolutionaries". He was referring to Abdelrazik and a few other accused suspects. He went on to state,"So why then, I ask, are those accused of terrorist offences often portrayed in media as quasi-folk heroes despite the harsh statements of numerous judges. Why are they always photographed with their children, giving tender-hearted profiles and more or less taken at their word when they accuse CSIS or other government agencies of abusing them?...A more balanced presentation is what I'm hoping for."
CSIS wiretap and vehicle search
On August 5, 2011 a La Presse story said that the Montreal newspaper had seen a 4 page document sent by CSIS to Transport Canada in July 2004 and that in it CSIS claimed to have intercepted a Summer 2000 conversation between Abdelrazik and Adil CharkaouiAdil Charkaoui
Adil Charkaoui is a Morocco-born permanent resident of Canada who was arrested by the Canadian government under a security certificate in May 2003....
in which the two men discuss blowing up an airliner flying from Montreal to France. According to La Presse, the CSIS authors also state that traces of RDX
RDX
RDX, an initialism for Research Department Explosive, is an explosive nitroamine widely used in military and industrial applications. It was developed as an explosive which was more powerful than TNT, and it saw wide use in WWII. RDX is also known as cyclonite, hexogen , and T4...
were found during a search of Abdelrazik's vehicle in October 2001.
US Pressure on Canada to help arrange Abdelrazik's transfer to Guantanamo
In September 2011 the Globe and Mail summarized additional documents that had been leaked to them that showed that Canadian authorities had barred his return to Canada because he was listed on a US no fly list.According to the Globe and Mail a listing on a US list should have been insufficient to bar him from returning to Canada, and yet due to this listing, he was stuck in Sudan for a further five years.
The Globe and Mail reported that Canada was under pressure to help the USA get Abdelrazik sent to the Guantanamo Bay detention camps.
Formal designation as a terrorist and addition to UN Security council blacklist
On July 23, 2006 the United States Department of the TreasuryUnited States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue...
designated Abdelrazik as a supporter of al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
and a terrorist, "for his high-level ties to and support for al-Qaeda." According to the Globe and Mail, the U.S. State Department believes, "Mr. Abdelrazik was “closely associated with Abu Zubaydah
Abu Zubaydah
Abu Zubaydah is a Saudi Arabian citizen, sentenced to death in Jordan and currently held in U.S. custody in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.Not neutral: Arrested in Pakistan in March 2002, he has been in US custody for more than eight years, four-and-a-half of them spent incommunicado in solitary confinement...
, Osama bin Laden's lieutenant responsible for recruiting and for al-Qaeda's network of training camps in Afghanistan.” The United States also alleges Mr. Abdelrazik recruited and accompanied a Tunisian extremist named Raouf Hannachi
Raouf Hannachi
Born in Tunisia, Raouf Hannachi is a Canadian citizen who served as the Muezzin at Assuna Mosque in Montreal, and was later detained by the United States government at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba...
for paramilitary training at a camp in Afghanistan in 1996 “where al-Qaeda and other UN-sanctioned terrorist groups were known to train,” and became personally acquainted with Mr. bin Laden". In April 2011, Wikileaks
Wikileaks
WikiLeaks is an international self-described not-for-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers. Its website, launched in 2006 under The Sunshine Press organisation, claimed a database of more...
revealed that a November 2008 U.S. Department of Defence document stated that Abdelrazik had admitted receiving $10 000 from alleged al-Qaeda financier Hassan Zemiri, who was captured in late 2001 in Tora Bora, Afghanistan. However, none of these allegations have been proven in a court of law and Abdelrazik has never been charged with any crime, in Canada or anywhere else in the world. Eight days after he was designated a terrorist by the US, he was added to the UN Security Council terrorist blacklist (not a no fly list) by the U.S. and is now the only living Canadian on that list. According to the Globe and mail,"any country can nominate anyone they consider to be an islamic extremist. All his personal assets were frozen once he was put on that list. Individuals on the list are subject to a sanctions regime which include an asset freeze and a ban on international travel (but not flight per se). According to a letter sent on April 18, 2008, by the Department of Foreign Affairs to Abousfian Abdelrazik's lawyer, the Canadian government requested the UN's 1267 Committee
United Nations Security Council Committee 1267
The 1267 Committee , was established on 15 October 1999, pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 1267 concerning Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and/or the Taliban and associated individuals and entities. The 1267 Committee is one of three Security Council committees dealing with counter-terrorism...
to remove Abdelrazik from its list of al Qaeda supporters.
A request was made to the UN on December 10, 2007, but was vetoed with no explanation eleven days later, meaning that at least one of the 15 members of the Security Council raised an objection. Canada has repeatedly stated that it continues to support removing Abdelrazik from the list, but has not clarified whether it was the country which originally asked for his inclusion. Critics of the blacklist have commented that Abdelrazik's status is typical, since it is far easier to be added to the list than removed.
Further attempts to return and judicial order
Out of fears for his safety due to growing media attention, on 28 April 2008, Abdelrazik took refuge in the Canadian embassy in Sudan, a situation the Canadian government described as "temporary". Abdelrazik also brought a legal suit against the Canadian government, seeking his return. On April 18, 2008 the director of consular affairs in the Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Mr. Abdelrazik, like all Canadian citizens, was entitled to emergency travel documents to return to Canada. Accordingly, on August 26, 2008, Abdelrazik booked a flight to Canada on Etihad AirwaysEtihad Airways
Etihad Airways is the flag carrier of the United Arab Emirates. Established in July 2003 and based at Abu Dhabi International Airport, Etihad commenced operations in November 2003....
, which was willing to fly him despite the fact that his presence on the U.S. no-fly list meant that any airline which transports him will no longer be able to enter U.S. airspace, thus eliminating most international commercial airlines. His flight was due to leave on September 15, 2008, but Abdelrazik was not able to leave Sudan because Ottawa refused to issue him travel documents. (He was issued a special one-use emergency passport valid for only two weeks after his 2004 release, but at the time could not find an airline willing to transport him.)
On March 12, 2009, 115 supporters of Abdelrazik presented a ticket for his flight to the Canadian government. The government's position was that he needed to have a pre-paid flight ticket, but that any Canadian who donated money to purchase such a ticket could be charged under Canadian anti-terrorism legislation implementing the Security Council's sanctions against people on their blacklist. The donors included former solicitor-general Warren Allmand
Warren Allmand
William Warren Allmand, is a former Canadian Liberal Party Member of Parliament and was a Cabinet member from 1972 to 1979....
, political science professor at the University of Toronto Joseph Carens
Joseph Carens
Joseph H. Carens is a professor at the Department of Political Science of the University of Toronto, Canada. His research interests are mainly focused on contemporary political theory, especially on issues related to immigration and political community...
, and Canadian peace activist and former Iraq hostage James Loney.
On April 3, 2009, this letter was received by Abousfian Abdelrazik's lawyer in Ottawa, Canada. Counsel for the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Donna Blois, in a one line letter notifies that the minister has refused to grant an emergency passport pursuant to section 10.1 of the Canadian Passport Order which states: "10.1 Without limiting the generality of subsections 4(3) and (4) and for greater certainty, the Minister may refuse or revoke a passport if the Minister is of the opinion that such action is necessary for the national security of Canada or another country."
According to the Lawyer's Weekly, "the government argued that the Charter only guarantees the rights of citizens to enter Canada once they present themselves at the border, and since Abdelrazik is not at the Canadian border, he has no rights.
The House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
Foreign Affairs Committee passed a motion requesting Abdelrazik testify before it.
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
Paul Dewar
Paul Dewar
Paul W. Dewar is a Canadian politician currently serving as the Member of Parliament for the riding of Ottawa Centre.Dewar is a member of the New Democratic Party and was first elected to the House of Commons in the 2006 federal election...
stated the request should require the Government to drop its efforts to block Abdelrazik's return.
On May 7 and 8, 2009, the Federal Court
Federal Court (Canada)
The Federal Court is a Canadian trial court that hears cases arising under certain areas of federal law. The Federal Court is a superior court with nationwide jurisdiction...
heard arguments from Abdelrazik's lawyers, who asked the court to order the federal government to facilitate Abdelrazik's return to Canada. His legal argument was rooted in Section 6 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982...
, which states in part that "Every citizen of Canada has the right to enter, remain in and leave Canada."
On June 4, Federal Judge Russel Zinn ruled the government had violated his constitutional rights and must fly him to Canada before July 7. Justice Zinn stated that Mr. Abdelrazik, "is as much a victim of international terrorism as the innocent persons whose lives have been taken by recent barbaric acts of terrorists". The Globe and Mail stated, "In a toughly worded 107-page ruling, Judge Zinn pilloried the government's claims of trying to help Mr. Abdelrazik, concluded that Canadian anti-terrorism agents were implicated in his imprisonment in Sudan, denounced the UN terrorist blacklist as an affront to justice and basic human rights and slammed Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon for high-handedly ignoring due process of law". In response to public demands by opposition parties that Ottawa should stop fighting the case, Justice Minister
Department of Justice (Canada)
The purpose of the Department of Justice is to ensure that the Canadian justice system is fair, accessible and efficient. The Department also represents the Canadian government in legal matters...
Rob Nicholson
Rob Nicholson
Robert Douglas "Rob" Nicholson, PC, QC, MP , is the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada. He is a current member of the Canadian House of Commons, representing the riding of Niagara Falls for the Conservative Party and the current Minister of Justice after serving for one year as...
said government lawyers would need time to review the 107-page decision before deciding on a course of action.