Abousfian Abdelrazik, the Sudanese-born Canadian citizen who has been trying to get back to Canada since he was imprisoned by the Sudanese authorities in 2003, is scheduled to land at Pearson International Airport at 4:40 p.m. Saturday before driving home to his family in Montreal.

On June 4, 2009, a Federal Court Judge ordered Mr. Abdelrazik's return and said that the Canadian government had breached Mr. Abdelrazik's right to enter Canada.

Judge Russel Zinn wrote that Mr. Abdelrazik "is as much a victim of international terrorism as the innocent persons whose lives have been taken by recent barbaric acts of terrorists."

Mr. Abdelrazik's family and supporters have said they are worried that he won't make it to Toronto because is still on the United National no-fly list, at the request of the United States. Mr. Abdelrazik's lawyer, Yavar Hameed, told Canwest news service that the Canadian government could not guarantee that Mr. Abdelrazik would be able to return to Canada unimpeded.

Federal Court documents state that while he lived in Montreal from 1990 to 2003, he knew Ahmed Ressam, who was convicted in the US for attempting to blow up the Los Angeles Airport. Court documents also cite that Mr. Abdelrazik knew Adil Charkaoui, a permanent resident of Canada who was arrested in May 2003 under a security certificate "on the grounds that Mr. Charkaoui is a danger to national security."

Mr. Abdelrazik has denied that he is a terrorist.

 

Here is a timeline of events regarding Mr. Abdelrazik's time since he left Montreal in March 2003

 

Abousfian Abdelrazik was born in Sudan in 1962. He was jailed in 1989 by the Sudanese authorities for being a political opponent of Omar al-Bashir, who came to power in a coup. Al-ashir is still President of Sudan and was recently indicted for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes by the International Criminal Court.

 

Abdelrazik arrived in Montreal in 1990 and was granted refugee status in 1992. He received Canadian citizenship in 1995. He has since married twice and fathered three Canadian-born children.

 

Mr. Abdelrazik left for Sudan in March 2003 to visit his ailing mother, and according to Federal Court documents, he said he also left to "escape harassment by the Canadian Security intelligence Service," after the plane attacks on September 11, 2001 in the US.

 

A few months after his arrival in Sudan, he was arrested and held in captivity for 11 months where he claims he was tortured. Federal Court judge Russel Zinn said that, "CSIS was complicit in the detention of Mr. Abdelrazik by the Sudanese authorities in 2003." But also wrote that he had no reason to disbelieve Canadian authorities when they claimed they were not aware of

Mr. Abdelrazik's claims to being tortured.

 

During his time in Sudanese jail, his Canadian passport expired and was not renewed.

 

In July 2004, Mr. Abdelrazik was prepared to board a Lufthansa flight back home to Montreal but was denied entry after it was discovered he was put on a no-fly list.

In October, 2005, Abdelrazik was re-arrested by the police in Sudan and held for another nine month, where he claims he was again tortured, including being beaten with a rubber hose three-to-five days a month.

 

The day after his release, July 20, 2006, court documents cite that the United States State and Treasury Departments released a press release stating that Abdelrazik was "a person losing a significant risk of committing acts of terrorism that threaten the security of U.S. nationals and the national security." And "[A]ccording to information available to the United States Government, Abd Al-Razziq, has provided administrative and logistical support to Al-Qaida. He has been identified as being close to Abu Zubayada, a former high ranking member of the

Al-Qaida network, involved in recruiting and training."

 

About one month later, Mr. Abdelrazik was listed by the United Nations 1267 Committee as an associate of Al-Qaida. The 1267 Committee was established in 1999 to monitor and press sanctions against members of the Taliban and Al-Qaida.

 

Reports by the Canadian government allegedly reveal it was information by the US which led to Mr. Abdelrazik being placed on this list, which as a consequence, froze all of Mr. Abdelrazik's funds and assets and barred him from travelling outside Sudan. He is still on the UN 1267 Committee list.

 

Judge Zinn wrote in his decision that "there is no direct evidence before this Court that Mr. Abdelrazik supports, financially or otherwise, is a member of, or follows the principles of Al-Qaida. There is no evidence before this Court as to the basis on which the United States authorities concluded that Mr. Abdelrazik has provided support to Al-Qaida and poses a threat to the security of the United States of America."

 

CSIS and the RCMP have both said publicly that they do not have any evidence linking him to any criminal activity.

 

In April 29, 2008 Mr. Abdelrazik was granted safe haven at the Canadian Embassy in Khartoum and given $500 a month to live on by the Canadian government.

He had purchased a plane ticket and was scheduled and fly home to Montreal on April 3, 2009, but about two hours before he was to board the plane, he discovered that the Minister of

Foreign Affairs denied his request for an emergency passport for national security reasons.

 

Federal Court Justice Russel Zinn ruled on June 4, 2009, that Canada breached Mr. Abdelrazik's right, as a Canadian citizen, to enter Canada, and ordered his return. Judge Zinn stated that the 1267 UN committee was not an impediment to Mr. Abdelrazik's repatriation.