Former CSIS official denies claim that spy agency tried to ‘scare’ diplomats working to free Abdelrazik

A former senior Canadian Security Intelligence Service official has denied claims that the spy agency intervened to keep Abousfian Abdelrazik, then a terrorism suspect, in detention in Sudan in the early 2000s.

The CSIS agent — identified in Federal Court only as ‘T’ — testified for a third day in a row Friday as part of Abdelrazik’s $27 million lawsuit against the federal government. Abdelrazik’s claim accuses the government of being complicit in his arbitrary imprisonment.

The Sudanese-born Canadian citizen alleges the federal government encouraged his detention by Sudanese authorities and actively obstructed his repatriation to Canada for several years.

Abdelrazik, 62, was arrested in Sudan during a 2003 trip to visit his mother and was interrogated while in custody by Sudanese officials and CSIS agents about suspected extremist links, the court has heard.

He returned to Canada in 2009 after the Federal Court ruled Ottawa breached his constitutional rights by refusing to give him an emergency passport. 

For hours Friday, Abdelrazik’s lawyer Paul Champ showed ‘T’ government emails and documents from 2003 that the lawyer suggested show that CSIS was working to disrupt efforts by consular staff on Abdelrazik’s behalf.

‘T,’ who worked in counterterrorism and was involved in Abdelrazik’s file for years, repeatedly said CSIS did not ask Sudan to detain Abdelrazik. They also repeatedly said CSIS can’t prevent Foreign Affairs staff from providing consular services.

“Obviously you can’t prevent them, but you can scare them. You can keep giving them inflammatory labels about Mr. Abdelrazik,” said Champ.

“You can tell them that Canada will be criticized if he gets released and he does something. And to do all that to influence Foreign Affairs in their decision making. That’s what the service was doing, correct?”

‘T’ said that was not the case. 

Other CSIS official worried about international backlash

In a Dec. 15, 2003 email, Scott Heatherington, then director of foreign intelligence at Foreign Affairs, told CSIS that Sudanese officials said they were only holding Abdelrazik because “Canada had requested that he be detained.”  

‘T’ insisted that the request did not come from CSIS. 

In another exhibit shown in court Friday, one of ‘T’s’ subordinates conveyed concerns to Foreign Affairs about what would happen if Abdelrazik was released. The CSIS employee’s name was redacted from the documents shown in the courtroom.

Calling Abdelrazik “one of Canada’s most dangerous and violence-prone Sunni Islamic extremists,” that CSIS employee said they believed he would “resume serious threat-related activities in Canada or elsewhere.”

The CSIS employee went on to warn that Canada would be open to “international censure” should Abdelrazik participate in a terrorist operation.

‘T’ said that was the view of one employee and he did not share that opinion.

Abdelrazik was never charged with terrorism offences. In 2007, the RCMP cleared Abdelrazik, confirming publicly that it had no “substantive information” indicating Abdelrazik was involved in criminal activity.

In March 2009, Abdelrazik obtained a ticket to Canada for the following month. He was denied an emergency passport.

Abdelrazik returned to Canada in June 2009 after a judge ruled Ottawa breached his constitutional rights by refusing to give him the travel document.

Lawyers for the federal government have rejected suggestions that the Crown breached any duty of care owed to Abdelrazik, or that any such breach contributed to his alleged false imprisonment, torture and abuse.

The civil trial had been set to begin in 2018, but was adjourned pending a review of emails, memos and other documentation related to the case under the Canada Evidence Act.