Stranded and abandoned in Sudan

It has been nearly six years since Abousfian Abdelrazik, a Sudanese Canadian, was jailed while visiting his ailing mother in Khartoum. It has been nearly four years since he was released for the second time by Sudanese authorities after suffering torture but without having been charged. Yet, Mr. Abdelrazik is unable to return home, and has spent the past 11 months living in the lobby of the Canadian embassy.

Initially considered a terror threat by the Bush administration, Mr. Abdelrazik was made the object of a travel ban and placed on a United Nations Security Council watch list. More recently, however, on being released from a Sudanese prison, Mr. Abdelrazik was given a letter stating that it was "never possible" for him to be a member of al-Qaeda and that he does not "bear any threat to any international interests." Indeed, both the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the RCMP have formally advised the Canadian government there is no reason to believe that Mr. Abdelrazik is a terrorist.

With the Conservative government continuing to refuse permission for Mr. Abdelrazik to return to Canada, only two possibilities present themselves: Either the government knows something our intelligence agencies do not, or it is simply being unreasonable.