The Canadian government has just refused a passport for Canadian citizen Abousfian Abdelrazik, who has been stranded in Sudan for the last six years but who had a ticket to return to Canada today, paid for by his supporters.
Abdelrazik has been in a legal limbo because his name is on a UN terrorist watchlist that forbids him from flying. Even though the RCMP and CSIS have cleared him of any wrongdoing, our government inexplicably refuses to let him come home.
According to the Canadian Press today: “Abdelrazik was set to fly home to Canada on Friday on a flight paid for by his supporters after living inside the lobby of the Canadian embassy in Khartoum for the last year. But the Justice Department denied Abdelrazik travel documents hours before he boarded his flight on the grounds he is a threat to national security.”
The article continues: “Ottawa had long said it would hand over his travel documents if he had a ticket, but Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon announced last week Abdelrazik would first have to get his name off a UN no-fly list.”
Additionally, Maher Arar wrote in an Ottawa Citizen op-ed on April 2, 2009 that, “The handling of the case of Abousfian Abdelrazik is shameful, to say the least. And this shamefulness increases with each new revelation of how the government has been putting up obstacles to ensure he never comes back home.” To read his full op-ed, please go to http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Another+stain+Canada+reputation/1454271/story.html
Amnesty International wrote to Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon on February 27, 2009 and stated, “It is time for the Canadian government to take immediate and decisive steps to bring him back to safety in Canada.” You can read that letter at http://www.amnesty.ca/take_action/actions/resources/hr_security/27_feb_2009_cannon_re_abdelrazik_case.pdf.
DEMAND HE BE ALLOWED HOME IMMEDIATELY!
It’s crucial that we write Minister of Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon (Cannon.L@parl.gc.ca) today and demand he reverse the government’s decision to deny Abdelrazik his right to return home. He is a Canadian citizen and deserves the rights of a Canadian citizen.
Below is a letter that Montreal chapter activist Denis Salter sent to the Minister today, copied to NDP leader Jack Latyon (Layton.J@parl.gc.ca) and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff (Ignatieff.M@parl.gc.ca). I encourage you to use it as a template to send your own letter to Cannon, Layton, Ignatieff and your own MP to demand immediate action.
To find an email or land address for your MP, click here: http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Lists/Members.aspx?Parliament=8714654b-cdbf-48a2-b1ad-57a3c8ece839&Current=True.
SAMPLE LETTER:
The Honourable Lawrence Cannon
Minister of Foreign Affairs
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON
Canada
K1A 0A6
Dear Mr Cannon,
Re: The Case of Abousfian Abdelrazik
I believe, on the basis of the evidence known to the Canadian public,that Mr Abdelrazik should be allowed by the federal government to return to Canada from Khartoum where he has been living for nearly a year and where he sleeps on a cot in the lobby of the Canadian Embassy.
Mr Abdelrazik is a Canadian citizen and should therefore enjoy all the rights of a Canadian citizen.
Both the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service and the RCMP have cleared Mr Abdelrazik in writing of any terrorist or criminal activity.
To return home, he needs a Canadian passport. Why haven’t you issued him one? The Embassy in Khartoum is allowed to produce passports. If it is not willing to issue him a passport, it could issue him an emergency travel document.
Your government has instructed Mr Abdelrazik to get himself removed from the UN terrorist blacklist. But there is a specific exemption that allows for those on this list to return home. Why has your government not exercised Mr Abdelrazik’s right to this exemption?
It is absolutely inconceivable that a Canadian citizen should be required to sleep for nearly a year on a cot in the lobby of a Canadian Embassy. Mr Abdelrazik is not well; what care is he being provided? He spent 19 months in prison in Sudan where, according to his testimony, he was beaten and tortured.
The Sudanese government released him, saying it could no longer detain an innocent man at the behest of a foreign government.. The Sudanese government offered to fly Mr Abdelrazik back to Canada on a Sudanese government flight. Why did you reject this offer?
The similarities with the Maher Arar case are very troubling. May I remind you that Prime Minister Harper eventually publicly apologized to Mr Arar and approved a $10-million payout for the role Canadian security agencies played in his years of imprisonment and torture?
I would have thought your government would have learned, from the Arar case, not to do this sort of thing again.
I look forward to your response to this request.
Yours Sincerely,
YOUR NAME
