A long roadback to normal

Back in Canada and cleared of all charges, Abousfian Abdelrazik is still considered a terrorist threat by the UN Security Council

NOT FREE YET: Abdelrazik
Photo by SHARON DAVIES

Abousfian Abdelrazik is no longer being tortured in a Sudanese jail, nor is he squatting at the Canadian Embassy in Khartoum. The 48-year-old father of five is back home in Montreal now, and trying to get on with his life following an inexplicable and horrifying eight-year (and counting) detour into the dark corners of the war on terror. But it’s been hard.

His story bears repeating. In 2003, he returned home to Sudan to visit his ailing mother. At the request of Canadian authorities, acting on a tip obtained from a waterboarded al-Qaeda suspect, he was arrested, imprisoned, beaten and tortured—until even the Sudanese realized he was innocent of any wrongdoing and released him. The Canadian government wouldn’t issue him a travel per­mit to return home, and he was re-arrested in 2005 and released the next year. Nevertheless, his name was added to the UN Security Council’s 1267 list, an al-Qaeda and Taliban watch list, his assets were frozen, a travel ban was imposed and any person helping him financially is liable to criminal prosecution, even though subsequent RCMP and CSIS investigations also cleared him. Neverthe­less, the Conservative government refused to issue him travel documents. Out of desperation, he took refuge at the Canadian Embassy in Khartoum. Following a long legal battle, he finally came home in June 2009.

His troubles are far from over. He can’t work, since his name is still on the 1267 list. His first wife died in 2001, his second divorced him while he was in a Khartoum prison. He survives on a small remuneration from the Régie des rentes spousal survivor benefit and donations from his supporters. But if his friends are successful, his days on the list are numbered. A group of supporters are meet­ing with a representative from the Security Council today, Thursday, June 16, in an attempt to remove his name from the 1267 list.

NO ANSWERS, NO EXPLANATIONS

At a Tim Horton’s near his Ville St-Laurent home, Abdelrazik sits and quietly, in his less-than-perfect English, tries to explain his current situation. Just days before we met, the same Régie des rentes that provides him with survivor benefits cut his child allowance support (he has five children, three under age 10, from different relationships). “I’m concentrating on bringing my life back to normal,” he says. He has no family other than his children in Canada, and few close friends other than his supporters, including local rights activist Mary Foster, who, along with his five-year-old, is sitting in on the conversation. “I’m satisfied with the public support and the effort my supporters [have shown],” he says. “But with the government, I’m not satisfied.”

Were it not for a sustained campaign waged by organizations like the People’s Commission, a coalition of rights, labour and anti-war activists, labour unions and other like-minded individuals, Abdelrazik might still be in Sudan. They kept pressing the legal system to exonerate him, but it was only at the insistence of a federal judge that then-Justice Minister Rob Nicholson announced that the government would no longer oppose his return. Abdelrazik has announced that he will sue the federal government and former Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon for $27-milllion, but those suits are still in their preparatory stages. A Canadian Charter challenge is also underway.

Discussing his treatment at the hands of the federal government, Abdelrazik shows some signs of frustration, if not anger. “There have been no answers,” he says. He says he sent letters to Can­non and Public Security Minister Vic Toews, but “both refused to answer. They gave no reason. I went to Stephen Harper’s office in Calgary and got no response. I also sent them messages from Sudan. “The Opposition parties support me—with words,” he says. “No actions.”

Asked if he was getting psychological help, he smiles slightly and gestures to his five-year-old son next to him. “I saw someone for a while,” he says, “but I’m tired.”

1267 REVISITED

The delegation of supporters to New York has their work cut out for them. There is a de-listing process, and Abdelrazik submitted his name in January, but the process is, according to Foster, “com­pletely secret. We don’t know what kind of information they’re passing back and forth. It’s a black hole.”

Émilie Breton is one of the delegates to New York. Although through the existing process he may be de-listed as soon as September, she and others feel it is important to stress the gravity and urgency of his situation. “It’s important to testify,” she says. “It’s a long process. It’s already taken years. He’s been literally imprisoned.”

“I am hoping this 1267 Committee [at the Security Council] will consider the message of the delegates, and do something to end my suffering,” says Abdelrazik. With his son crawling into his lap and pulling on his beard, he says, “The small ones don’t understand. They ask questions, and I have no answers.” ■

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