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Canadian returns home after 6 years stranded in Sudan
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Jun 29, 2009 - 9:51:36 PM

2 days ago

MONTREAL (AFP) — A Canadian-Sudanese citizen stranded in Khartoum for the past six years over his alleged links to Al-Qaeda arrived in Canada Saturday, his supporters said.

The plane carrying Abousfian Abdelrazik and his lawyer Yavar Hameed landed late Saturday in Toronto, his supporters said in a post on micro-blogging service Twitter, where they have provided information on his return since he left Khartoum on Friday.

"I am here!" Abdelrazik told a group of over 50 supporters who chanted "Welcome home! Welcome home!" at the Toronto airport, according to another Twitter post.

"I'm very glad to come back home," he told supporters. "I'm happy. Just as mentioned, long journey from Sudan. I want to say to my supporters from coast to coast, every town, every city, every village, thank you very much for supporting me and now I am here."

Abdelrazik's exile from Canada began in March 2003 when he traveled to Sudan to visit his ailing mother.

During his stay, he was twice detained in Sudan and he said he was tortured. His Canadian passport expired during his two prison stints and upon his release he found himself on a United Nations no-fly list.

He had been holed up at the Canadian embassy in Sudan since April 2008, fearing arrest by local authorities.

His situation took a turn for the better on June 4, when a Canadian 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 Canada to be reunited with his family within 30 days.

The UN Security Council 1267 Committee, which monitors and acts against members of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, said Abdelrazik was listed "as being associated with Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden or the Taliban" for providing support to Al-Qaeda and the Kurdish extremist group Ansar al-Islam, including recruiting efforts.

The allegations, made public on the committee's website this week, also said 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 also told one individual he recruited for an Al-Qaeda training camp that he personally knew Bin Laden, the group's mastermind.

Hameed said the accusations were "a repetition of allegations the United States made in 2006" that his client has already denied. "We don't see anything new in there," he told AFP.

Abdelrazik had 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 Bin Laden.

Canada's federal police and spy service also 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.