Abousfian Abdelrazik

Abousfian Abdelrazik or Abu Sufian Abd Al-Razziq is a Sudanese-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 refused to grant him travel papers and otherwise blocked his return to Canada.

On June 4, 2009, Canada's Federal Court ruled that Abdelrazik's citizenship rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms had been violated and ordered the Canadian government to facilitate his return; later that month, on June 27, he flew to Canada.

Prior to his removal, 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 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 has claimed 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.

In April 2018, the Government of Canada walked out of mediation talks intended to resolve Abdelrazik's lawsuit.

In August of that year, a number of Canadian contemporaneous and former MPs were subpoenaed to testify about Abdelrazik's ordeal. Most indicated willingness to testify, according to Abdelrazik's lawyer, but Peter Harder — a former deputy minister of foreign affairs, and then the Liberal government's representative in the Senate — invoked his legal privilege as a senator to avoid appearing in court during the parliamentary session. Abousfian felt it necessary to state why he didn't list the names of his supporters in a letter to the editor of The 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". In Sudan he was arrested but never charged. According to the Lawyers Weekly, "documents reveal that Sudanese officials arrested him at Canada's request". In a December 2003 affidavit, Abdelrazik admitted 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.

Abdelrazik family bought him an airline 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 2004, 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 to fly him to Canada on a private aircraft if the countries would share the cost, but Canada rejected this offer. On July 26, 2005, Sudan's Minister of Justice issued Mr. Abdelrazik a formal document saying Sudan had not found any evidence linking him to terrorism or al-Qaeda. Shortly after Abdelrazik's second release, the UN's 1267 Committee added him to its list of individuals and entities suspected of belonging to or associated with the Taliban or al-Qaida; 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 Sudan's expense on a Sudanese government aircraft (which, as a non-commercial flight, would have been exempt from the flight ban list). The Globe and Mail reported that it had acquired documents contradicting previous Canadian government statements that it had not requested Abdelrazik's detention. Their report stated the documents they obtained showed Canada had requested his detention, in 2003, and had participated in his interrogation in October 2003. In June 2009, the Federal Court agreed, ruling that, based on the internal government documents it had reviewed, it was probable that Abdelrazik had been detained at the request of CSIS. While Abdelrazik 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, Abdelrazik was interrogated by two CSIS agents while in Sudanese detention, under threat of torture and without charge. In May 2009, The Globe and Mail published new reports on the role Canadian authorities had played in Abdelrazik's apprehension.

On October 29, 2009, Richard Fadden, the head of CSIS, stated that civil rights advocates and media were presenting a distorted picture of suspected terrorists, in which Abdelrazik and others were "too often portrayed as romantic revolutionaries". Fadden 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, in which CSIS claimed to have intercepted a Summer 2000 conversation between Abdelrazik and Adil Charkaoui in which the two men discussed blowing up an airliner flying from Montreal to France. According to La Presse, the CSIS authors also stated that traces of RDX had been 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 also reported that Canada was under pressure to help the USA get Abdelrazik sent to the Guantanamo Bay detention camps. 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, Abdelrazik was added to the UN Security Council terrorist blacklist, 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. but the request had been vetoed with no explanation eleven days later (meaning that at least one of the 15 members of the Security Council had raised an objection). Canada repeatedly stated that it continued to support removing Abdelrazik from the list, but did not clarify whether it was the country which had 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. 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 Airways, which was willing to fly him despite the fact that his presence on the US no-fly list meant that any airline which transported him would no longer be able to enter US airspace. On April 3, 2009, a letter was received by Abousfian Abdelrazik's lawyer in Ottawa, Canada, stating that the Minister of Foreign Affairs had refused to grant an emergency passport, pursuant to regulations allowing such action if judged necessary for national security. 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." Member of Parliament Paul Dewar stated this 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, Justice 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.

Return and lawsuits against the federal government

On June 18, 2009, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson announced that the government of Canada would abide by the court's ruling. Nine days later Abdelrazik flew to Canada.

In the fall of 2009, he sued the Canadian government for C$24 million, and C$3 million more for Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon's "misfeasance in public office." The Hamilton Spectator stated that according to Justice Minister Robert Nicholson, "the Harper government spent more than C$800,000 in legal fees fighting a losing battle to keep Canadian citizen Abousfian Abdelrazik from coming home". Department of Justice lawyers claimed Abousfian's lawsuit was meritless because Canadian laws do not apply overseas. The government characterized the lawsuit as mostly frivolous and vexatious, and claimed that "no such tort has been recognized in Canadian law" for failing to prevent torture at the hands of others. Abousfian's lawyer stated in response, "I expected the government would approach us about an apology and a settlement, instead they have been entirely unrepentant." The outcome of the case will most likely set several new legal precedents with regards to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In August 2010, the Federal Court granted Abdelrazik the right to sue the federal government. His lawyer, Paul Champ stated, "The federal government had sought to block the lawsuit. The government was arguing that individuals could not sue for torture and they were also arguing that there was no legal duty on the Government of Canada to protect Canadians detained abroad." A government spokesman stated that "the government is reviewing the decision and reserves comment because of ongoing litigation".

Removal from UNSC blacklist Abdelrazik was removed from the UNSC blacklist on November 30, 2011. His lawyer, Paul Champ, indicated that he would submit an official notice to the federal government of the decision and expected that all sanctions against Abdelrazik would be lifted immediately.