MONTREAL - The lawyer for a Sudanese-Canadian stranded in the Canadian embassy in Khartoum says Ottawa has created five years of unnecessary obstacles to Abousfian Abdelrazik's return.
Yavar Hameed, Abdelrazik's lawyer, has gone to Federal Court to try to get the 46-year-old man repatriated immediately.
While it may take several weeks for the request to be heard, Hameed says he is hoping to expedite the process.
"We want to bring this to the courts as soon as possible to get a formal position from the government,'' Hameed said Thursday.
Hameed said he wants the Federal Court to issue an injunction to force the government to bring his client back to Canada.
"Under the charter of rights he has the right to leave and return to Canada, without any interference from the government,'' the lawyer told reporters.
"There is no barrier in domestic law or international law.''
Abdelrazik is currently living at the Canadian embassy in Khartoum after being freed because Sudanese investigators found no evidence to support criminal charges.
"He is in very poor health, he has asthma, heart problems, and a number of other problems which require medical attention,'' Hameed said.
Abdelrazik was arrested in August 2003, after he went to visit his ailing mother, and was detained until 2005.
Hameed said he was repeatedly questioned about three individuals, who are listed as suspects on the U.S. State Department website.
"These Canadians are people who are thought to be associated with a terrorist cell in Montreal,'' Hameed said.
"He doesn't know these people and there was no reason for him to be detained.''
Documents show CSIS became interested in Abdelrazik in part because he admitted an acquaintance with Ahmed Ressam, the so-called millennium bomber who was convicted in the United States of plotting to blow up Los Angeles International Airport.
Abdelrazik has acknowledged he knew Ressam in Montreal and testified by video link at his U.S. trial. But he insists he knew nothing of the bomb plot.
On its website, the U.S. State Department claims Abdelrazik posed a significant risk of committing acts of terrorism that threatened national security. It says he was a member of an extremist cell in Montreal whose members included Ressam.
Federal Court documents have also linked Abdelrazik to Adil Chakaoui, a Moroccan-born Montrealer who has been fighting deportation on allegations of terrorist activity.
Documents released under access to information and privacy laws indicate that after Abdelrazik was freed, the Sudanese government was willing to provide a private plane to return him to Canada.
A copy of a CD with an exchange of messages involving Canadian diplomatic officials was made public at the news conference.
The messages also reveal Air Canada and German airline Lufthansa refused to repatriate him because his name appeared on a no-fly list.
Imam Salam Elmenyawi, the head of the Muslim Council of Montreal, says the government has not even tried to get the airline to reverse its decision.
"This person has never been charged with a crime, has never been found guilty, is being stranded and all kinds of excuses are being made as to why he's not here,'' Elmenyawi said.
Hameed said the documents also show his client was first imprisoned at the request of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
Abdelrazik tried to get a new passport after his old one expired while he was being detained, but his supporters say there's been no formal response from Ottawa.
His stepdaughter, Wafa Sahnine, said she and her younger brother and sister have been "living like orphans'' for more than five years.
"Enough is enough,'' she said.
Documents say Abdelrazik came to Canada in 1990 as a refugee, became a landed immigrant in 1992 and obtained Canadian citizenship in 1995.
