Canadian Islamic Congress Media Communique – PLIGHT OF CANADIAN TRAPPED 5 YEARS IN SUDAN IS “AS SHAMEFUL AS MAHER ARAR CASE,” SAY MUSLIM ORGANIZATIONS
THE CANADIAN ISLAMIC CONGRESS
MEDIA COMMUNIQUE
May 3, 2008
PLIGHT OF CANADIAN TRAPPED 5 YEARS IN SUDAN IS “AS SHAMEFUL AS MAHER ARAR CASE,” SAY MUSLIM ORGANIZATIONS
– PM HARPER URGED TO TAKE IMMEDIATE PERSONAL ACTION TO BRING ABOUSFIAN ABDELRAZIK HOME WITHOUT FURTHER STALLING
– IMPRISONED, MAROONED WITHOUT CHARGES LAID; ABDELRAZIK SUFFERS WHILE SUCCESSIVE GOVERNMENTS CONCERNED ONLY WITH SAVING FACE
Following the detailed and potentially embarrassing media exposure of the Canadian government’s abandonment of 46-year-old Abousfian Abdelrazik – including a series of internationally sanctioned avoidance tactics to prevent his rightful return home to Montreal — Canadian Muslim organizations are calling for a prompt and humane end to “an outrageous travesty of human rights.”
Abdelrazik has been watched for years by CSIS; listed as a terror suspect by Canadian, American, and EU security authorities; added to international no-fly lists; denied the renewal of his legitimate Canadian passport; and been isolated from his young family for five years; all without public evidence that he has had any involvement in criminal or terror-related activities of any kind. Heavily “redacted” (blacked-out) CSIS and other documents obtained under access-to-information legislation, offer little or no rationale for the psychologically and physically damaging treatment he has received.
His personal nightmare began when he returned to his native Sudan in 2003 with his French-Canadian wife and family, to visit his ailing mother. Abdelrazik’s wife and children were allowed to fly home, but he was arrested without warning or charge in Khartoum. Since then, he has endured several successive imprisonments at the request of Canadian and international authorities. Even the Sudanese government insists there are no grounds to hold him and offered to transport him back to Canada on one of its own planes when no other airline was allowed to do so. The request was blocked by Canadian intervention.
“If this proves embarrassing to Canada, it is well deserved,” said today’s statement issued by the Canadian Islamic Congress and supported by Canada’s major Canadian Muslim organizations including the Muslim Unity Group of Toronto (a coalition of Canada’s largest mosques), Al-Huda Muslim Society, Islamic Society of Toronto (IST), Al-Hadi Musalla, the Quebec-based Canadian Muslim Forum (FMC-CMF) and the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada (ISCC).
“Our leaders in at least two successive federal governments have had numerous opportunities to relieve the shameful treatment Mr. Abdelrazik has endured. It is time to deal with this travesty of human rights out in the open and admit that an enormous wrong has been done to a Canadian Citizen who has not been proven guilty of anything.”
CONTACT:
Imam Dr. Zijad Delic
CIC Ottawa National Executive Director
(613) 698-8469 (Cell)
E-mail: imamdrdelic@canadianislamiccongress.com
Short URL: http://tinyurl.com/yek647x
