OTTAWA—When it looked like Sudanese jailers would release Abousfian Abdelrazik, a Montreal man who Canada’s spy agency suspected was tied to Al Qaeda, a senior CSIS officer fumed in an email to colleagues: “So much for jail forever.” The classified 2004 CSIS email filed Friday as part of the court record in a long-running lawsuit goes on to accuse Canadian consular officials who were seeking Abdelrazik’s release of “just wanting to cover their asses.” The writer’s name is blacked out. But the attitude is not.Abdelrazik, his lawyer Paul Champ, and Amnesty International say it, and a trove of other documents in the case, display a casual or callous indifference toward the man’s plight that led directly to his detention and torture in Sudan.“At best, the document demonstrates that for CSIS human rights of a Canadian citizen are a cynical joke,” said lawyer Paul Champ. “At worst, it is damning evidence of Canadian complicity in arbitrary and illegal detention of a Canadian by notorious torturers.”Champ says that attitude continues to this day. Federal lawyers gave surprise notice they want to delay Abdelrazik’s civil lawsuit indefinitely.The 10-week trial in the $27-million lawsuit was supposed to start Monday in an austere Federal Court room in the same building as the Supreme Court of Canada. Witnesses including current and former government officials were booked, along with costly flights and hotels, said Champ.The move stunned Abdelrazik and his supporters.It follows a series of moves in recent weeks in which the federal government has: admitted it failed to disclose to Abdelrazik roughly 500 relevant Privy Council documents; sought to shield the identities of five current and former CSIS employees from the public when they testify; and now justice department lawyers suddenly want the Federal Court to adjourn proceedings indefinitely.They want another federal judge to review thou ...
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