CSIS shared Abousfian Abdelrazik information with foreign partner agencies
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service shared information about Abousfian Abdelrazik with "foreign partner agencies" prior to his arrest and detention in Sudan in 2003, the federal government has admitted The Canadian Security Intelligence Service shared information about Abousfian Abdelrazik with “foreign partner agencies” prior to his arrest and detention in Sudan in 2003, the federal government has admitted.
It made the admission in a statement of defence filed this week with the Federal Court in response to Abdelrazik's $27-million lawsuit against the government and Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon.
The 34-page defence firmly denies Canada was complicit in Abdelrazik’s 2003 arrest by Sudanese authorities and asserts Canadian officials took “reasonable steps” to assist in Abdelrazik’s repatriation to Canada.
It also says CSIS did not share any information and intelligence about Abdelrazik with Sudanese authorities before his arrest in that country.
In his lawsuit against the government, Abdelrazik alleges Canada was responsible for his detention in Sudan and violated his constitutional right to come home.
The 47-year-old Sudanese-Canadian spent nearly six years in prison or forced exile in Sudan before the Federal Court ordered the government to repatriate him last year.
Paul Champ, Abdelrazik’s Ottawa lawyer, said Wednesday the decision to share information about Abdelrazik with agencies in other countries was “improper and negligent” because, he believes, it was likely passed on to the Sudanese.
“One way or another, the information that led to his detention and arrest came from Canada,” he said.
The government’s statement says Abdelrazik came to the attention of CSIS in the late 1990s “because of his associations with Montreal-based supporters of Islamist extremism.
“CSIS had reasonable grounds to suspect that (Abdelrazik) constituted a threat to the security of Canada by virtue of suspected links to international terrorism,” the statement of defence says.
CSIS agents interviewed Abdelrazik four times between April 2001 and February 2003 outside his home or at nearby public places.
After his arrest in Sudan, two CSIS agents interviewed Abdelrazik in October 2003. The purpose, the government document says, was to collect information and intelligence on “potential security threats.”
Abdelrazik asked the agents to tell his children in Canada where he was. But the agents declined, the defence statement says.
Champ said the defence corroborates many elements of Abdelrazik’s version of events.
“For the most part, we’re really happy with the defence,” Champ said. That Abdelrazik was able to accurately recall so many meetings and discussions “shows a lot about his credibility,” he said.
One of Abdelrazik’s meetings was with Deepak Obhrai, Cannon’s parliamentary secretary. The two met in March 2008, a month before he sought refuge in the Canadian embassy in Khartoum.
The government’s defence confirms that Abdelrazik told Obhrai he’d been tortured while in custody, lifted his shirt and “briefly pointed to some places on his body.”
In response to Obhrai’s questions, Abdelrazik said he’d been beaten with a hose and made to stand for hours, adding that this was done at the request of Canada, the defence states.
It also says Obhrai asked Abdelrazik about his views on “various conflicts, including Israel and Palestine.”
Champ said the document’s account of the meeting largely corroborates Abdelrazik’s own version.
It also confirms that Obhrai “thought this was a good opportunity to question a Canadian citizen about his views on Israel and Palestine, as if that had any bearing whatsoever on his plight.”
No date has been set to hear the lawsuit, though a case management conference is scheduled for Oct. 26.
Last month, the Federal Court rejected a government motion to throw out parts of the lawsuit, as well as an attempt to have Cannon removed as a defendant.
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