Wayne Easter asked to testify

Lawsuit claims complicity of government in torture of Canadian in Sudan, seeks testimony of former solicitor-general

Malpeque MP Wayne Easter has been issued a subpoena to appear in court as part of a $27 million lawsuit against the federal government initiated by a Canadian citizen who was detained and tortured in Sudan. Easter was the solicitor-general of Canada at the time of the arrest of Abousfian Abdelrazik during a visit to his ailing mother in Sudan in 2003. Abdelrazik was tortured by Sudanese intelligence officials while he was detained. Members of the Canadian Secret Intelligence Services interrogated Abdelrazik while he was in Sudanese custody. Following his release, he took refuge in the Canadian embassy in Khartoum after being barred from re-entry into Canada. No charges were levelled against Abdelrazik by either Canadian or Sudanese authorities. Abdelrazik was allowed to return to Canada in 2009 only after a federal court ordered the Canadian government to lift a ban on his re-entry. Paul Champ, a litigation lawyer who is representing Abdelrazik, said CSIS was complicit both in Abdelrazik’s arrest in 2003 and his subsequent imprisonment. As solicitor-general, Easter would have overseen the operations of CSIS between October 2002 and December 2003. “When CSIS has interactions with the foreign intelligence agency of that nature, they must get approval of the solicitor-general,” Champ said. “I want to speak to him about that and what he knew about the case and what approval he gave and why he made those decisions.” Champ said Easter’s short tenure as solicitor-general corresponded with Abdelrazik’s initial arrest. “He was there at its most crucial period, when Mr. Abdelrazik was arrested and when CSIS went over there and solidified their co-operation agreement with, frankly, one of the most notorious intelligence agencies in the world,” Champ said. Champ has also issued a subpoena to several officials who served during the Chretien Liberal and the Harper Conservative governments during the period in which Abdelrazik was detained. These include Peter Harder, a former deputy minister of foreign affairs with the Liberal and Conservative governments from 2003-2007, Mobina Jaffer, a Liberal senator who served as Canada’s special envoy for peace in Sudan from 2002 to 2006, and Deepak Obhrai, a current MP and former parliamentary secretary to former Conservative foreign affairs minister Maxine Bernier. The lawsuit also names former Conservative foreign affairs minister Lawrence Cannon. The Guardian reached out to Easter for comment but did not hear back by deadline. A court date is set for Sept. 17.