Canadian terror suspect sues over alleged torture in Sudan

A Canadian-Sudanese man once stranded in Khartoum for six years over his suspected links to Al-Qaeda is suing Canada for its alleged role in his arrest and torture, court documents say.

Abousfian Abdelrazik, 47, had found himself on a United Nations no-fly list after traveling to Sudan in March 2003 to visit his ailing mother. He says he was twice detained in Sudan and tortured.

Following his release, he holed up at the Canadian embassy in Sudan for more than a year, fearing arrest by local authorities.

He was eventually repatriated to Canada in June after a federal court ruled in his favor and ordered Ottawa to provide him with travel documents as well as arrange to fly him from Khartoum to Montreal to be reunited with his family.

Abdelrazik's suit filed Wednesday seeks 24 million Canadian dollars (22 million US) from Ottawa alleging the government's involvement in his detention and torture, and three million dollars (2.76 million US) from Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon for "misfeasance in public office."

It claims the foreign minister "deliberately and flagrantly violated (Abdelrazik's) constitutional right to enter Canada, and his legal right to procedural fairness and natural justice, by refusing to issue an emergency passport."

Abdelrazik's lawyer Paul Champ told AFP: "Canadian officials (had) directly asked a foreign government -- and that's a foreign government with a record of torture -- to detain a Canadian citizen."

"He was snatched by the Sudanese secret police and his family didn't know where he was and formally the Canadian government was telling his family they didn't know where he was.

"At same time, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service agents were in Khartoum interrogating him in Sudanese custody," he said. "That's pretty disgusting."

Abdelrazik first arrived in Canada in 1990 as a refugee, after fleeing his native Sudan over his opposition to President Omar al-Beshir. He obtained Canadian citizenship in 1995.

In 2006, he was accused of links to Abu Zubaydah, a lieutenant of Osama bin Laden.

The UN Security Council 1267 Committee, which monitors and acts against members of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, claims Abdelrazik is "associated with Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden or the Taliban" and provided support to Al-Qaeda and the Kurdish extremist group Ansar al-Islam, including recruiting efforts.

The Security Council also alleges Abdelrazik "was a member of a cell in Montreal, Canada, whose members met in Al-Qaeda's Khalden training camp in Afghanistan."

According to the committee, Abdelrazik told one individual he recruited for an Al-Qaeda training camp that he personally knew bin Laden, the group's mastermind.

Canada's federal police and spy service examined his alleged ties to Ahmed Ressam, an Al-Qaeda operative jailed for trying to bomb the Los Angeles airport in 1999. The two had met at a mosque in Montreal, where Abdelrazik lived for 13 years.

But Abdelrazik has never been charged, and he has denied any involvement in acts of terror.