Canadian intelligence and security officials will not be able to testify in closed doors when the long-delayed case brought by Abusufian Abdelrazik, who alleges federal complicity in his overseas detention and torture, finally goes to court next month.
Last month, prosecutors filed a motion to allow six witnesses to testify in private when the hearings formally begin on Oct. 21 “to avoid damage to Canada’s international relations, defence and national security.”
The witnesses in question are current and former employees of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the RCMP and the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs.
Government lawyers argued that the public and media should be excluded from the courtroom while officials testify to “prevent the inadvertent disclosure” of protected secrets.
In a ruling announced Tuesday, Federal Court Judge Patrick Gleeson denied the prosecution’s request.
“Defendants’ prosecutors have presented little evidence to establish a possible risk of inadvertent disclosure,” Gleason wrote.
“Rather, they argue that there is a substantial risk of inadvertent disclosure, relying on the fluid and unpredictable nature of the proceedings and the volume of information subject to protection.”
The ruling marks a victory for Abdelrazik, who has waited more than a decade to see his day in court.
Abdelrazik claims CSIS helped detain him
Abdelrazik, a Sudanese-born Canadian, was arrested during a visit to Sudan in 2003. While in custody, he was questioned by CSIS about suspected extremist ties. Abdelrazik denies any links to terrorism.
He spent the next six years either in prison or in forced exile at the Canadian Embassy in Khartoum after his attempts to return to Canada were rejected by the federal government.
In 2009, a Federal Court judge ruled his Charter rights had been violated and ordered him returned home.
His father, a Montreal resident, filed a lawsuit that year seeking $27 million in damages, alleging that the federal government violated his constitutional right to return home, alleging that he was tortured in Sudanese custody, and that CSIS agents asked Sudan to arrest and detain him without charge and question him about his activities and associates in Canada.
CSIS denies having asked Sudanese authorities to detain Abdelrazik, but court records show Sudanese authorities told Canadian diplomats that CSIS had requested his arrest.
The case was scheduled to go to trial in 2018 but was postponed under the Canada Evidence Act to allow court officials time to review and redact hundreds of pages of documents, including emails and memos.
Abdelraziq’s lawyers opposed the prosecution’s motion for non-disclosure, arguing that the order was unnecessary and violated key principles of the Canadian justice system.
“The open court principle is particularly important because this case involves alleged misconduct by government officials and complicity in serious human rights violations,” lawyer Paul Champ said in a statement.
“There is strong public interest in hearings in this case where government witnesses will defend their actions.”
CBC News also intervened in the case, arguing that the prosecution’s motion “unfairly restricts the principle of open trial and infringes on freedom of expression and the press.”
Gleason wrote that denying the motion would not prevent prosecutors from seeking a closed hearing at some point in the trial, and that he would consider making that argument if that were to happen.
