32 Facts About Abousfian Abdelrazik

Abousfian Abdelrazik or Abu Sufian Abd Al-Razziq is a Sudanese-born Canadian dual citizen.

Abousfian Abdelrazik's experience has been said to be similar to other Canadians such as Maher Arar, Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El Maati, and Muayyed Nureddin.

Abousfian Abdelrazik has claimed that he was tortured while in detention in Sudan, and the Canadian government has admitted in court submissions that two CSIS agents interrogated him while he was in Sudanese custody.

Abousfian Abdelrazik was removed from the United Nations Security Council blacklist on November 30,2011.

However, several other parliamentarians who had dealings with the Abousfian Abdelrazik file, including Sen.

Abousfian Abdelrazik initially trained as a machinist and got married.

Abousfian Abdelrazik was imprisoned for his political views after the 1989 Sudanese coup d'etat by Omar al-Bashir, and fled to Canada as a refugee in 1990.

Abousfian Abdelrazik married a French Canadian woman in 1994, and they soon had a daughter together.

Abousfian Abdelrazik stated that he was only involved in humanitarian work, to help people.

Abousfian Abdelrazik further stated that, "my humanitarian trips abroad were funded by my religious work as a Muslim healer in Montreal and through donations from many individuals in the Muslim community".

In 2000, Abousfian Abdelrazik voluntarily testified via videolink at the trial of Ahmed Ressam, the "millennium bomber".

Abousfian Abdelrazik testified he knew Ahmed Ressam when he met him at the Montreal's Assuna Annabawiah mosque, but had no knowledge of his plans to attack targets in the US and knew nothing about his whereabouts since he had last seen him in Vancouver.

Abousfian Abdelrazik was released in July 2004, having been detained since the previous September.

Abousfian Abdelrazik family bought him an airline ticket to Montreal, but the airlines refused to transport him because his name had been place on the US no-fly list.

In September 2004, his wife in Montreal divorced him, and the following month Abousfian Abdelrazik married a Sudanese woman, with whom he had a child the following year.

In June 2009, the Federal Court agreed, ruling that, based on the internal government documents it had reviewed, it was probable that Abousfian Abdelrazik had been detained at the request of CSIS.

Canadian official Sean Robertson ordered Canadian ambassadorial staff not to attempt to monitor the Federal Bureau of Investigation's interrogation, after Abousfian Abdelrazik had requested that they accompany him to the interrogation.

Embassy staff compromised with Abousfian Abdelrazik and told him they would phone him immediately after the scheduled interrogation was over, but when they called, there was no answer.

Abousfian Abdelrazik repudiated every allegation that the US government had made against him, including accusations that he knew Osama bin Laden, had fought in Chechnya and trained in Afghanistan, and was a key al-Qaeda operative.

The Globe and Mail reported that Canada was under pressure to help the USA get Abousfian Abdelrazik sent to the Guantanamo Bay detention camps.

However, none of these allegations have been proven in a court of law, and Abousfian Abdelrazik has never been charged with any crime, in Canada or anywhere else in the world.

Critics of the blacklist have commented that Abousfian Abdelrazik's status is typical, since it is far easier to be added to the list than removed.

Abousfian Abdelrazik filed suit against the Canadian government, seeking the ability to return.

Accordingly, on August 26,2008, Abousfian Abdelrazik booked a flight to Canada on Etihad Airways, which was willing to fly him despite the fact that his presence on the US no-fly list meant that any airline which transported him would no longer be able to enter US airspace.

Abousfian Abdelrazik's flight was due to leave on September 15,2008, but Abdelrazik was not able to leave Sudan because Ottawa refused to issue him travel documents.

On March 12,2009,115 supporters of Abousfian Abdelrazik presented a ticket for his flight to the Canadian government.

Canada's position was that Abousfian Abdelrazik needed to have a pre-paid flight ticket, but that any Canadian who donated money to purchase such a ticket could be charged under Canadian anti-terrorism legislation implementing the Security Council's sanctions against people on their blacklist.

The House of Commons' Foreign Affairs Committee passed a motion requesting Abousfian Abdelrazik testify before it.

Justice Zinn stated that Mr Abousfian Abdelrazik, "is as much a victim of international terrorism as the innocent persons whose lives have been taken by recent barbaric acts of terrorists".

The Globe and Mail stated, "In a toughly worded 107-page ruling, Justice Zinn pilloried the government's claims of trying to help Mr Abousfian Abdelrazik, concluded that Canadian anti-terrorism agents were implicated in his imprisonment in Sudan, denounced the UN terrorist blacklist as an affront to justice and basic human rights and slammed Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon for high-handedly ignoring due process of law".

Department of Justice lawyers claimed Abousfian Abdelrazik's lawsuit was meritless because Canadian laws do not apply overseas.

Abousfian Abdelrazik was removed from the UNSC blacklist on November 30,2011.