Abousfian Abdelrazik

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Abousfian Abdelrazik is a Sudanese-Canadian dual citizen suspected of ties to al Qaeda. Although he has spent time in prison in Sudan and has been placed on a United Nations blacklist of al Qaeda supporters, no charges or arrest warrants are pending against him from any government, and he has never been convicted of any crime. Nevertheless, Canada has refused to grant him travel papers and has otherwise blocked his return to his home in Montreal.^[1]

Abdelrazik was born in Sudan in 1962, and trained as a machinist. He was imprisoned for his political views after the 1989 military coup by Omar al-Bashir, fled to Canada as a refugee in 1990, and became a Canadian citizen in 1995.^[1] He has an ex-wife and five-year old child living in Montreal, Quebec.^[2]

Abdelrazik voluntarily testified via videolink at the trial of Ahmed Ressam, the "millennium bomber".^[1] He testified he knew Ahmed Ressam, but had no knowledge of his plans to attack the USA.

[edit] In the Sudan

Abdelrazik returned to the Sudan in August 2003 to visit his sick mother, and was arrested in Khartoum at the request of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). While he was in the Sudanese prison, he claims to have been interrogated by two CSIS agents^[2], his wife divorced him^[3] and his Canadian passport expired.^[1]

He was released in July 2004, then re-arrested in November 2005, and finally released again in July 2006^[2], although Canada has since refused to renew his passport, leaving him unable to travel on commercial airlines. Canada has refused to allow Sudan to transport him to Canada at their expense on a Sudanese government aircraft, and Canadian diplomats visiting Sudan have stated that they were unable to transport him home on their own private aircraft due to his presence on the UN no-fly list, although the list only applies to commercial airlines.^[1]

The Canadian government can issue temporary travel papers, although they would require Abdelrazik to fly straight home to qualify, but since 2006 he has also been on international "no-fly" lists which prevent him from taking conventional commercial flights.^[1] The Sudanese government has offered to fly him to Canada on a private plane, but Canada did not accept.^[1] According to a letter sent on April 18 2008 by the Department of Foreign Affairs to Abousfian Abdelrazik's lawyer, the Canadian government has requested the UN's 1267 Committee to remove Abdelrazik from its list of al Qaeda supporters.^[4] A request was made to the UN on December 10 2007, but was rejected eleven days later, meaning that at least one of the 15 members of the Security Council raised an objection. Canada has stated that it now supports removing Abdelrazik from the list, but has not clarified whether it was the country which originally asked for his inclusion.^[5] Critics of the no-fly list have commented that Abdelrazik's status is typical, since in practise it is far easier to be added to the list than removed.^[5]

Out of fears for his safety in the wake of recent media articles about him, on 28 April 2008, Abdelrazik took refuge in the Canadian embassy in Sudan, a situation the Canadian government describes as "temporary". As of May 16 he is still in residence at the embassy.^[5] Abdelrazik has also brought legal suit against the Canadian government, seeking his return.^[6]

[edit] Allegations

CSIS has accused him of being a member of a Montreal cell that supported Ahmed Ressam's efforts.^[3]

The United States State Department has said that Abdelrazik is a personal acquaintance of Osama bin Laden, closely tied to Abu Zubaydah and attended an Afghan training camp in 1996 together with Raouf Hannachi, a charge which he denies.^[3]

[edit] References