The Federal Court of Canada in 2009 ordered the then Conservative government to allow Montrealer Abousfian Abdelrazik, who had been stranded in Sudan for six years as an al-Qaeda suspect, to return home.
A former Canadian Security Intelligence Service agent says that in 2009, CSIS had very little information to indicate whether Abousfian Abdelrazik was a national security threat — information that was shared with the foreign affairs minister at the time who denied the Montreal man an emergency travel document to leave Sudan.
Abdelrazik alleges the Canadian government abandoned him in Sudan for six years before the Federal Court ruled in June of 2009 that Ottawa had breached his constitutional rights and ordered him home.Abdelrazik, who has never been charged with any terrorism-related offences, says he was tortured during two periods of detention by the Sudanese intelligence agency.
The witness testified they also told Cannon that, between 1998 and 2003, CSIS did believe Abdelrazik posed a security threat, and said that belief was sufficient to get the Federal Court to approve a warrant to follow his activities.Emails shown to the witness Thursday showed that Foreign Affairs officials had advised Cannon to approve the travel document.A Foreign Affairs official felt the minister had "ignored" the advice, according to the email exhibit."I have no idea why Mr.
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