Canada: Muslim suing federal government accused of jihad training and fighting in Chechnya

Image: Jihad Watch

A former senior agent with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has claimed that a Montreal man suing the federal government for his alleged abandonment and torture in Sudan was involved in terrorism and served as an adviser to a notorious terrorist.

Testifying in Federal Court on Thursday, the CSIS witness, identified only as "T," summarized the agency's concerns about Abousfian Abdelrazik during an exchange with Abdelrazik’s lawyer.

The witness accused Abdelrazik, 62, of attending terrorist training camps, traveling to the war-torn Russian republic of Chechnya, and participating in the conflict there. The witness, speaking in French, stated that Abdelrazik returned from Chechnya with "significant sums of money," though he did not elaborate further.

Additionally, the witness, who previously held various senior positions, including counterterrorism director-general at CSIS, alleged that Abdelrazik encouraged Ahmed Ressam, a Montreal acquaintance, to attend the same terrorist training camps. Ressam was later convicted for attempting to blow up Los Angeles International Airport after his 1999 arrest in Seattle, where he was caught with explosives in his car.

Summing up CSIS's long-standing interest in Abdelrazik, the witness stated, “These activities led us to believe that, indeed, he was a person involved in jihadist extremism.”

When questioned by Abdelrazik's lawyer about whether the evidence behind the allegations would be admissible in court, the witness responded, “I am not a lawyer, a jurist, so I can’t state the admissibility of the information that was provided to us.” He later clarified that CSIS collects data, not evidence.

Paul Champ, Abdelrazik’s lawyer, asked if the witness had ever been to Chechnya to witness Abdelrazik’s involvement firsthand, but a federal lawyer objected to the question.

Abdelrazik, who was born in Sudan and became a Canadian citizen in 1995, is suing the federal government and former Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon for $27 million. He accuses the defendants of abandoning him in Sudan for six years—2003 to 2009—during which he alleges he was detained and tortured by Sudanese intelligence over suspected terrorism ties.

(This Article was originally published by Jihad Watch)