|
Ottawa,
June 6, 2009 – The Federal Court of Canada has ordered the federal
government to allow the return of a Montreal man stranded in Sudan for
six years as an al-Qaeda suspect, ruling his charter rights have been
breached.
Abousfian Abdelrazik, 47, was arrested and detained while visiting his
mother in Sudan in 2003. For the last year, he has been living in the
Canadian Embassy in Khartoum.
Both the RCMP and Canadian Security Intelligence Service have cleared
Abdelrazik of any terrorist connections, but the Conservative government
refuses to issue him travel documents to return home because his name
was added to a UN Security Council list banning travel for terrorist
suspects.
His lawyers successfully argued the government has violated his right to
mobility under Section 6 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In the court's decision Thursday, Federal Court Judge Russell Zinn wrote
that Abdelrazik is a "prisoner in a foreign land" and "as much a victim
of international terrorism as the innocent persons whose lives have been
taken by recent barbaric acts of terrorists."
He ordered the government to facilitate Abdelrazik's return within 30
days. The government hasn't said whether it will appeal the decision.
"I find that Mr. Abdelrazik is entitled to an appropriate remedy which,
in the unique circumstances of his situation, requires that the Canadian
government take immediate action so that Mr. Abdelrazik is returned to
Canada," Zinn wrote.
Zinn also said CSIS was "complicit" in Abdelrazik's detention by
Sudanese authorities six years ago.
Calling his case "complex," Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon has
previously said Abdelrazik must get himself removed from the United
Nations blacklist before he can return to Canada.
In his decision, Zinn said the government's claim that Abdelrazik
couldn't fly to Canada due to his inclusion on the UN blacklist was
actually "no impediment" to his repatriation.
Canadian media reports have quoted UN officials as saying Canada can
repatriate Abdelrazik any time it wishes, whether or not his name is on
the UN list.
Last week, a parliamentary foreign affairs committee passed a unanimous
motion calling on the federal government to allow Abdelrazik to return
to Ottawa to testify before MPs.
His lawyers have said several groups, including the Canadian Council on
American-Islamic Relations and the Canadian Postal Workers Union, have
already bought him a plane ticket and have offered to accompany him on
his journey back to Canada.
Source: CBC, June 04, 2009
|
