To end Abdelrazik’s ordeal, he needed travel documents from the Canadian government to allow him to fly home. After months of refusing to provide Abdelrazik with these documents, a Canadian Federal Court Judge ordered the Canadian Government on June 4, 2009, to “issue [Abousfian Abdelrazik] an emergency passport in order that he may return to and enter Canada” and to “arrange transportation for [Mr. Abdelrazik] from Khartoum to Montreal, Canada such that he arrives in Canada no later than 30 days from the date hereof.”

In his story, Abdelrazik tells how he was twice arrested and imprisoned, why he took sanctuary inside the Canadian Embassy (much to the embassy’s consternation), and when he was put on the United Nations 1267 no-fly list by the United States.

For more details about his story, visit Peoples Commission Network website.

The video below is a ten-minute condensation of his presentation, in his own words, of the lengthy ordeal at the hands of Canadian, American and Sudanese intelligence agencies that left him in forced exile in Sudan for six years.

World Food Program warehouse in Malual Kon, Northern Bahr el-Ghazal, March 2009

Without context, the article is no more than another record of ‘tribal’ violence in an African country already mired by war. Without prior knowledge of the situation in Southern Sudan—and the Canadian media provides very little—the details are meaningless. Actually, Southern Sudan is in a post-war renaissance that may lead to a lasting peace, self-determination and independence; if, and only if, they can hold on to the four-year-old peace that Le Devoir describes as “already fragile.”

It’s important that news about Southern Sudan gets reported because newsworthy stories in Sudan are not just related to Darfur or to the International Criminal Court indictment of Sudan President Omar al-Bashir, which deserve media attention for the international condemnation and reduction of human rights abuses that can come from exposure. But the situation in Southern Sudan is also in need of media scrutiny to support democratization and to help maintain a fragile peace deal that ended Africa’s longest civil war between the government of Sudan and the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Army.

Sudan’s second civil war since its 1956 independence from British colonialism, lasted 21 years and officially ended on January 9, 2005 with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in neighbouring Nairobi, Kenya. The CPA set up a power-sharing structure between the central government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement with the creation of a coalition Government of National Unity for all of Sudan and the Government of Southern Sudan; both with new interim constitutions. The agreement allows for the transformation of the Southern rebel forces into a regular army for semi-autonomous Southern Sudan with Joint Integrated Units of both armies in specific border areas. It prescribes oil revenue-sharing protocols and the establishment of a border between the north and south of Sudan, which will transect oil-producing areas.

An interim period of six years is established to implement the peace agreement, after which the South can hold a referendum to decide to remain within Sudan or to opt for complete independence. This is tentatively scheduled for 2011.

Approximately two million people were killed during the war and about four million were displaced from their homes to other regions of Sudan and nearly one million refugees fled to neighbouring countries. Since its independence 53 years ago, Sudan has been at peace for only 15 of those years (1972-1983: Addis Ababa Agreement, and since the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement). Despite these statistics, almost no editorial space in Canadian media is given to the current situation in Southern Sudan.

Media attention of the region was particularly abundant during the 1988 famine when more than 250,000 people starved to death. But since the signing of the peace deal, the media has focused more on the conflict in Darfur than the tenuous peace in the South. The negotiations of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement with former southern rebels may have added to the current civil war in Darfur, whose own rebels wanted to be included in peace negotiations but were kept from it.

The entrance of the UNMIS compound in Abyei, April 2009

Sudan presently hosts UNMIS, the largest United Nations mission in the world (not including the UN African Union Mission in Darfur) with a mandate of “supporting the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement… [and] facilitating the voluntary return of refugees and displaced persons.”

Why is the movement of refugees and displaced people more newsworthy when they flee war and persecution than when they return to the homelands they were previously forced to flee? The story of returnees to the south is a mirror into the future for Darfur refugees whose current situation is a glimpse into the past for the Southern Sudanese still struggling with their new peacetime conditions.

The civil war now raging in Darfur has displaced more than 2.25 million people since 2003*, while more than 2.24 million Southern Sudanese have returned to their homeland since 2005*. Both are impressive migrations of people that require an important amount of support from the United Nations and other NGOs to help them resettle. Donor countries like Canada, which provides $66.8 million in humanitarian aid to Sudan*, have an influence in Sudan’s future and also need journalistic scrutiny.

Recently settled homes in Northern Bahr el-Ghazal, March 2009

Those that return to their homeland in the south believe that the peace deal will endure and are eager to help rebuild the country, while many are still unwilling to return for fear of the re-emergence of war. Those that do return, discover that—in many areas—living conditions in the war-ravaged south are more difficult than the areas where they are returning from: lack of sufficient drinking water, no schools, nor clinics and a difficult means for livelihood generation. Most arrive in their homeland after more than a decade of absence with little more than a few belongings. NGOs provide some with a tarp to set up a temporary shelter, blankets, water containers, cooking utensils and other non-food items, while the World Food Program provides food subsidies.

Being a refugee from war and a returnee to peace—both in Sudan—look all too similar and deserve equal attention. Media attention about Darfur needs to continue to help end the war there and it needs to begin about Southern Sudan to help it cling to its tenuous peace.

Documents obtained under the Privacy Act (.pdf 169Mb or ZIP 52Mb) and available from the website of the People’s Commission on Immigration Security Measures indicate that Mr. Abdelrazik, a Canadian citizen, was incarcerated in Sudan on the request of Canadian officials. While in prison in December 2003, he was interrogated by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). Since his release in July 2006, he has been blocked from returning home to Montréal.

Mr. Abdelrazik’s family lives in Montréal and has not seen him since he left for Sudan in 2003. Human rights activists and citizens groups have began a public campaign to repatriate Abousfian Abdelrazik. Project Fly Home, raised enough funds from at least 171 Canadian citizens to purchase a airline ticket to take Abdelrazik back to Canada. His ticket is scheduled for April 3, 2009.

UPDATE: Abousfian returned home to Montréal on Saturday June 27, 2009 around midnight after a six-year forced exile in Sudan, where he experienced torture, imprisonment without trial, and over one year trapped in the Canadian embassy. All with the involvement of Canadian officials.

- Abdelrazik pleads to clear his name: ‘I want to live like a normal Canadian — G&M July 24, 2009

- Abdelrazik describes details of interrogation in Sudan — Toronto Star July 23, 2009

- Abdelrazik ‘very glad to come back home’ — CBC June 27, 2009

+++

Below is a timeline taken from the ‘Project Fly Home’ campaign organizers:
1990
Mr. Absoufian Abdelrazik, flees the violence of a civil war and coup in Sudan, arrives in Canada and is granted political refugee status.

1995
Mr. Absoufian Abdelrazik becomes a Canadian citizen.

2000
After the arrest of Ahmed Ressam, the millennium bomber, Mr. Abdelrazik and other Muslims living in Montreal come under close surveillance by Canadian counter-terrorism agents. Mr. Abdelrazik says it amounts to harassment so severe that he calls the Montreal police for help. He is never charged with any crime, denies any connection with al-Qaeda and testifies for the prosecution at Mr. Ressam’s trial.

2003
MARCH 23: He arrives in Khartoum from Montréal, travelling on his Canadian passport to visit his mother.

SEPTEMBER 12: Mr. Abdelrazik is arrested and imprisoned by Sudan.

DECEMBER: Interrogated by people he identifies as “Canadians” while in prison. Mr. Abdelrazik says he was repeatedly beaten and tortured. In an affidavit this year, he admits to telling his interrogators “what they wanted to hear.”

2004
JULY: Mr. Abdelrazik is released from prison after 11 months. He was expected to fly home to Canada with a Lufthansa-Air Canada ticket paid for by his family. A Canadian diplomat was to escort him on temporary travel papers because his passport had expired.

JULY 23: The flight home is scrapped at the last minute when Air Canada and Lufthansa refuse to carry him on the grounds that he has been added to the U.S. no-fly list, even through routing doesn’t involve a U.S. stop. Mr. Abdelrazik is not told about the U.S. no- fly list but is told that the government of Canada is powerless to tell airlines to transport him. He’s required to live in a police-owned and monitored house.

JULY 29: In DFA Case Note 123, senior consular official Odette Gaudet-Fee, says when Mr. Abdelrazik’s wife inquired about chartering a private plane, she was told that the government would not pay for this.

SEPTEMBER 29: Senior Sudan official warns Canadian diplomats that “Sudan realized however that keeping an innocent man in detention was a human-rights violation. So far, they had prevented him from having access to news media and HR organizations but this could not go on forever. He thought that protest and public attention to this story would impact adversely on both our countries. In particular, it would tarnish Canada’s reputation in Arab countries.”

OCTOBER 10: Sudan offers a private aircraft to get Abdelrzik to Canada if Canada will contribute to costs and provide escorts.

OCTOBER 31: Canada is not prepared to contribute to the cost of the flight and also not prepared to provide an escort for Mr. Abdelrazik on the flight.

NOVEMBER 24:Then-PM Paul Martin arrives in Khartoum on a Canadian military Airbus with seating for more than 150. Embassy officials thwart Mr. Abdelrazik’s efforts to meet with PM and the aircraft leaves with scores of empty seats. A senior official travelling with the prime minister meets Mr. Abdelrazik.

2005
APRIL 13: Canada’s senior diplomat in Sudan agrees to tell Mr. Abdelrazik “I can assure you that the Govt of Canada has had no involvement whatsoever in any decision to place your name on such lists.”

MAY 9: Senior Foreign Affairs diplomat warns that Mr. Abdelrazik “has reached the end of his rope, he has no money, no future, very little freedom and no hope. Should this case break wide open in the media, we may have a lot of explaining to do.”

JULY 26: Sudan Minister of Justice issues Mr. Abdelrazik a formal document exonerating him. We “did not find any evidence’” linking him to terrorism or crime or al-Qaeda.

OCTOBER 5: With a Canadian delegation scheduled to visit, Mr. Abdelrazik is arrested again and detained, without charge. Canadian consular access is denied. But an undated and heavily redacted Canadian Foreign Affairs document marked secret and carrying a CSIS stamp says he was imprisoned “at our request,” but it isn’t clear whether that was the first, second or both times.

DECEMBER 16: In a cable marked secret, diplomats warn Ottawa that “further delay in this case risks the perception of complacency on the part of the Government should this case become public, especially given our repeated observations regarding Mr. Abdelrazikis increasingly desperate frame of mind.”

2006
JULY 20: He is released from prison after 10 months as the Sudanese say they cannot hold an “innocent” man. A Canadian diplomat, in a message to Ottawa, says he “appears to be a broken man,” but Ottawa tells diplomats to tell Mr. Abdelrazik they won’t give him a passport or travel documents.

JULY 23: The United States formally designates him a terrorist “for his high-level ties to and support for the al-Qaeda.”

JULY 31: He’s added to UN Security Council terrorist no-fly blacklist by the U.S. All his personal assets are frozen. The ban, however, specifically exempts travel for return to the country of citizenship, for the fulfillment of a judicial process and for other justifications (such as for medical and religious purposes) if allowed by the U.N.

DECEMBER 16: A secret document sent from Khartoum to senior Foreign Affairs and security officials in Ottawa says, “Abousfian Abdelrazik was arrested on September 10, 2003 [word blacked out] recommendation by CSIS, for suspected involvement with terrorist elements.”

2007
MAY 15: Mr. Abdelrazik is called by the Sudanese secret police for an interrogation by a visiting FBI anti-terrorist team. He asks for Canadian consular help, but Ottawa expresslyforbids diplomats in Khartoum to escort him. After the interrogation, Canadian diplomats report to Ottawa that Mr. Abdelrazik was told that “he will never return to Canada” unless he co-operates fully.

NOVEMBER 6: In the process of examining Aboudelrazik’s request for de-listing from the U.N. list, CSIS declared that it had “no current substantial information regarding Mr. Abdelrazik”.

NOVEMBER 15: RCMP anti-terrorism branch formally tells Harper government that it has “conducted a review of its files and was unable to locate any current and substantive information that indicates Mr. Abdelrazik is involved in criminal activity.”

2008
FEBRUARY 22: Despite RCMP’s exoneration, CSIS’s most recent terrorist update summary still says Abdelrazik received training at the Khalden camp in Afghanistan in 1996 and is important Islamic Jihad activist.”

MARCH 25: Maxime Bernier, the Canadian foreign minister, visits Khartoum. His chief of staff and MP Deepak Obhrai meet with Mr. Abdelrazik, who lifts his shirt to show scars that he says were from torture and beatings while in prison.

APRIL: Sean Robertson, a senior foreign affairs official, formally writes to Mr. Abdelrazik’s lawyers assuring them that the government of Canada had already “transmitted our support for Mr. Abdelrazik’s de−listing request to the 1267 Committee,” (the Security Council resolution bearing that number that blacklists known al−Qaeda members).

APRIL 18: Sean Robinson, director of consular affairs in the Department of Foreign Affairs, confirms in writing that “we stand by the commitment” to “ensure that [Mr. Abdelrazik] has an emergency travel document to facilitate his return to Canada.”

APRIL 20: Senior Transport Canada intelligence and security officials, in a classified document say, “Senior government of Canada officials should be mindful of the potential reaction of our U.S. counterparts to Abdelrazik’s return to Canada as he is on the U.S. no-fly list.” Transport Canada documents state it was the U.S. no-fly lists that prevented Mr. Abdelrazik’s return to Canada when he was released from prison in July 2005.

APRIL 29: Mr. Abdelrazik seeks refuge in the Canadian embassy in Khartoum. Mr. Bernier grants him “temporary safe haven,” suggesting that he poses no threat to the embassy but may be at risk of re-imprisonment in Sudan.

SEPTEMBER 15: Etihad Airlines agrees to fly Mr. Abdelrazik from Khartoum to Toronto via Abu Dhabi on this date. The Canadian government fails to deliver on its promise, first made in 2004, that Mr. Abdelrazik, like all Canadian citizens, is entitled to emergency travel documents to return home.

DECEMBER 23: Passport Canada adds a new condition – a fully paid-for ticket, not just a confirmed reservation – must be presented before Mr. Abdelrazik will be issued emergency travel documents. Mr. Abdelrazik is destitute. The government says it must seize his assets and anyone who gives him any money is committing a crime.

2009
MARCH 12: One hundred and sixteen Canadians break federal law by contributing towards the purchase of a plane ticket for Mr. Abdelrazik with a departure date set for April 3. The government has untilthen to issue travel documents.

(Most of this timeline appears in a March 5, 2009 article entitled “Exiled in Khartoum: CSIS asked Sudan to arrest Canadian, files reveal” written by Globe and Mail Correspondent Paul Koring. Additional sources, Globe and Mail.)

MARCH 20: CSIS posted a request on its website asking SIRC to investigate its role in Mr. Abdelrazik’s detention in Sudan, hoping to clear itself of allegations that it had acted inappropriately.

MARCH 27: Minister of Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon says Mr. Abdelrazik must have his name removed from the 1267 UN no-fly list before the government will issue travel documents.

APRIL 3: On the day Mr. Abdelrazik is booked to fly home, Minister Cannon uses his discretionary powers under the Canadian Passport Order to bar Mr. Abdelrazik from coming home. He continues to wait in the Canadian embassy in Khartoum.

APRIL 28: One year anniversary of Mr. Abdelrazik’s “temporary safe haven” in Canadian embassy in Khartoum.

MAY 7: Court hearing begins in Ottawa where Mr. Abdelrazik is seeking a mandatory order to compel the government to bring him back “on any safe means at its disposal.” The motion is based on section 6 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which states, “Every citizen of Canada has the right to enter, remain in and leave Canada.”