Montreal man on watch list rallies supporters

A Montreal man who was put on the United Nations' terror watch list in 2006 but never charged with a crime is continuing to take his case to the streets.

Abousfian Abdelrazik and about 100 supporters marched through downtown Montreal on Saturday to press for an end to the sanctions imposed upon him since his arrest.

Abdelrazik was arrested, but not charged, during a 2003 visit to Sudan to see his ill mother. He was finally cleared to return to Canada last summer after six years in Sudan, which included two stints in prison and 14 months in the lobby of the Canadian Embassy.

Unable to work because of the sanctions, Abdelrazik said he has been in limbo since coming home.

He said he has been unfairly targeted by what he called the "racist" policies of the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

"I did nothing wrong," he told reporters before the march.

"One morning, I find myself in this situation without any kind of charges, without any kind of evidence."

Under a UN Security Council resolution, Ottawa has the power to punish anyone who provides Abdelrazik with material support.

Even if he got a paycheque, he couldn't withdraw funds from his bank account. After a court battle, he won an injunction that allowed him limited monthly withdrawals from his credit union account.

Both CSIS and the RCMP have acknowledged they have no evidence against Abdelrazik. He was exonerated of any ties to al-Qaeda by the Sudanese Justice Department in 2005.

But efforts to have his name removed from the list have been unsuccessful. The federal government and other authorities have continued to apply the sanctions.

Ottawa cited the list while refusing to grant Abdelrazik travel documents after he was released from a Sudanese prison, where he alleges he was tortured. He spent months in legal limbo at the Canadian Embassy in Khartoum.

March organizer Mary Foster, who accompanied Abdelrazik on a countrywide speaking tour this fall, said his troubles are part of a larger struggle against Islamaphobia, racism and "arbitrary government power."

"It's not just about one individual, it's about many individuals, about whole countries full of individuals," she said.

Abdelrazik's lawyers, with the support of civil liberties groups, have filed a constitutional challenge against the watch list, known as the UN 1267 list.

He has already filed a lawsuit against Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon and the federal government for $27 million.

His lawsuit alleges the government arranged for his arbitrary imprisonment by Sudanese authorities, encouraging or condoning his torture at the hands of Sudanese authorities, and actively obstructing his return to Canada for several years.

Melissa Lantsman, a spokeswoman for Cannon, said she couldn't comment on the specifics of his case because it's before the courts.

But she said "it's incumbent on Mr. Abdelrazik" to follow the proper channels to get himself off the watch list.

Canada tried to have Abdelrazik's name removed from the UN list in 2007 but was rebuffed. Any member of the Security Council can veto a de-listing request without offering an explanation.

Abdelrazik and about a dozen supporters paid a visit to Harper's constituency office in Calgary last month, but he was not there.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2010/12/12/montreal-abdelrazik-march.html#socialcomments