Abousfian Abdelrazik makes his way to Federal court in Ottawa on Oct. 30.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Canada’s intelligence service thought it was helping a Montreal man detained in Sudan by sending questions for the intelligence service in the northeast African country to ask him while he was in custody, a former senior agent says.
The former agent, testifying anonymously in Federal Court on Friday, was recalling 2003 events central to a $27-million lawsuit that Abousfian Abdelrazik has launched against the federal government and former foreign affairs minister Lawrence Cannon.
Mr. Abdelrazik, a Canadian citizen since 1995, had returned to his native Sudan to see his ailing mother, and was taken into custody by officials of Sudan’s intelligence agency.
Now 62, Mr. Abdelrazik is accusing the defendants of abandoning him in Sudan for six years – from 2003 to 2009 – which he says included detention and torture by Sudan’s intelligence agency.
The witness, a director-general in the service in 2003, acknowledged Sudan did not have a strong record on human rights, saying, at one point. “We knew that Sudan didn’t have a history, a good history of human rights, and were aware of that.”
The witness, identified only as T, said that the thinking at the time of Mr. Abdelrazik’s initial detention was that the questions about his activities in Canada and abroad, linked to suspicions he was involved in Islamic extremism, could be positive for the detained Mr. Abdelrazik.
The witness explained that the Canadian government taking an interest in Mr. Abdelrazik might prevent abuse by Sudanese officials.
“If the government of Canada shows no interest in this citizen, the chances of abuse would be at a higher consideration,” said the witness, speaking from a location outside the downtown courtroom.
Under questioning from Mr. Abdelrazik’s lawyer, Paul Champ, the witness said CSIS did not check these assumptions with officials at consular affairs.
“No, it’s a reflection we did at the inside, on the interior of our service,” said the witness.
Under questioning from Mr. Champ, the witness testified that CSIS learned on Sept. 10, 2003, that Mr. Abdelrazik had been detained in Sudan during his visit, and eventually decided to send a series of questions for officials in the country to ask Mr. Abdelrazik.
The witness agreed that Mr. Abdelrazik had, in February, 2003, in Montreal declined to answer questions about Islamic extremism posed by CSIS agents, who turned up to ask him about the matter.
But the witness said that there was an assumption that Mr. Abdelrazik might be more disposed to answer questions while in Sudanese custody to facilitate a quicker return to Canada.
The witness was repeatedly questioned by Mr. Champ about the high risk of his client being abused given Sudan not signing on to the United Nations convention against torture, which came into effect in 1987.