Family of Canadian stranded in Sudan urges federal government to help

A lawyer for Sudanese-Canadian Abousfian Abdelrazik says his client has been allowed to stay at the embassy and plans to remain there until he gets answers from Ottawa.

Lawyer Yavar Hameed is accusing the federal government of duplicity and disinformation, with a mounting trail of evidence suggesting it has been blocking efforts to bring his client home.

Abdelrazik went to visit his ailing mother in 2003 and was caught in legal limbo after accusations he has terrorist ties; no criminal charges have been filed against the former Montrealer.

He suffers from asthma, heart problems, and an ulcer, and is living on a $100 monthly loan from the Canadian government.

Abdelrazik's ex-wife has demanded that Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier deal with his case.

"He is not a terrorist. He is a Muslim. He is a practising Muslim but a peaceful Muslim," said Myriam St-Hilaire.

"He is a Canadian citizen and he has rights and I'm just asking the government to take in consideration this fact."

She said their son is only five years old and doesn't understand what has happened to his father - whom he can't even remember.

"I'm asking Mr. Bernier: What am I supposed to answer him when he grows up and he tells me, 'Why wasn't my dad able to be next to me when I was a child?"' St-Hilaire said.

"Mr. Bernier, what am I supposed to answer him?"

Hameed said his client's only contact with Bernier's office has seemed more like an inquisition than consular assistance.

He said Bernier's chief of staff and Conservative MP Deepak Obhrai peppered him with questions about his views on the 9-11 attacks, and on the state of Israel.

He said the Canadian government has done nothing to renew his client's passport or get his name off a no-fly list so that he can take a commercial flight home. He said Ottawa has also rejected an offer from the Sudanese government to fly him to Canada.

Bernier's office said it was reviewing the case, but added that Abdelrazik remains a terrorism suspect. After avoiding comment for two days, the foreign minister's office issued a statement:

"We continue to provide Mr. Abdelrazik with consular assistance. Services include medical and financial assistance, facilitating communications with family and lawyers, as well as providing 'temporary safe haven' at our embassy in Khartoum," the statement said.

"Mr. Abdelrazik is unable to return to Canada of his own accord because he is currently on the United Nations list of terrorism suspects alleged to be affiliated with Al Qaida, the Taliban or Osama bin Laden."

During Abdelrazik's visit to see his mother, he was arrested by Sudanese officials on a tip from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, said his lawyer.

He was released when investigators found no evidence to support criminal charges.