Fifteen years after filing a lawsuit against the Canadian government over his detention in Sudan, Abusufian Abdelrazik is spending his days in court.
The eight-week civil trial, scheduled to begin today in federal court, will revisit events that occurred two decades ago against a backdrop of heightened alarm over the threat of extremism.
Mr. Abdelrazik has been sued for $27 million over his ordeal abroad, accusing Ottawa of arranging his arbitrary imprisonment, encouraging his detention by Sudanese authorities, and actively blocking his extradition to Canada over several years. They are suing for dollars.
The suit, which was brought in 2009 and amended in 2017, also names Lawrence Cannon, who served as Conservative foreign secretary from 2008 to 2011.
Mr. Abdelrazik, 62, denied any involvement in terrorism during interrogation.
After arriving in Canada, he received refugee status in 1990, became a Canadian citizen five years later, and currently lives in Montreal.
He was arrested in 2003 while visiting Sudan to see his sick mother.
While in custody, Abdelrazik was questioned by the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) about possible links to extremists. He said he was tortured by Sudanese intelligence officials during his two detentions.
He returned to Canada in 2009 after a federal court ruled that Ottawa violated his constitutional rights by refusing to grant him an emergency passport.
Federal lawyers deny allegations that the Crown breached its duty of care to Abdelrazik or that such breach contributed to his alleged false imprisonment, torture and ill-treatment.
The civil trial was scheduled to begin in 2018, but was postponed pending review of emails, notes and other documents related to the case under the Canadian Evidence Act.
“It is shameful that this case took 15 years to reach trial because the Canadian government did everything it could to delay and derail the case,” Abdelrazik’s lawyer Paul Champ said in a statement. .
Cannon is among the prominent witnesses scheduled to testify. Maxime Bernier, who preceded him as Minister of Foreign Affairs. former National Security Adviser Margaret Bloodworth; David Vigneault recently retired as Director of CSIS. and former senator Mobina Jaffer.
The Crown recently lost a lawsuit that forced several current and former security officials to testify behind closed doors.
Federal Court Judge Patrick Gleason rejected a motion by government lawyers to exclude the public and media from courtrooms during official testimony to prevent inadvertent disclosure of classified secrets.
Mr. Champ argues that the evidence record overwhelmingly shows that CSIS worked with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to arrange Mr. Abdelrazik’s arrest by Sudanese authorities.
In an amended statement of defense, the government said CSIS had reasonable grounds to suspect that Mr. Abdelrazik had “suspected links to international terrorism and constituted a threat to the security of Canada.”
But Canada denies sharing information about Abdelrazik with Sudan before his arrest.
One of the documents disclosed in the case, a confidential July 2006 memo to Kevin Lynch, then clerk of the Privy Council, says that given the past interest American authorities have shown in Abdelrazik’s whereabouts, “we “It is necessary to prove this to the United States.” We are taking all aspects of this security incident seriously. ”
Champ said the incident was a horrifying example of how intelligence agencies can destroy lives and violate people’s freedoms in the shadows and with impunity.
“Mr. Abdelrazik’s case should be important to all Canadians, because when a government violates people’s rights and freedoms even on suspicion, courts need to forcefully condemn it.”
