Abdullah Almalki
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Abdullah Almalki (born 1971) is a Syrian-Canadian engineer who was imprisoned for two years in a Syrian jail. As of 2005, Almalki lives in Canada with his wife and five children.
Almalki was born in Syria and emigrated to Canada as a boy. He worked in the Ottawa area as an engineer, and had an acquaintance with Maher Arar.
In the 1990s, Almalki travelled to Afghanistan and worked with a Canadian non-governmental organization (NGO), Human Concern International, in projects funded by the United Nations Development Programme.[1] The regional office of the NGO was managed by Ahmed Said Khadr, another Canadian who was later alleged to have used charitable funds to aid the cause of Al-Qaeda.
In 1997, Maher Arar listed Almalki as his "emergency contact" with his landlord.[2] In 1998, when he returned to Canada to open an electronics export business Dawn Services[3], he was questioned twice by Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) who wanted him to offer information about Khadr's possible relations to Islamic militants.[4] In 2000, and again following the September 11 2001 attacks, CSIS spoke to him to ask about a Muslim associate with a pilot's license with whom Almalki had flown to Hong Kong in 2000.[4]
In November 2001, Almalki flew to Malaysia to visit his mother-in-law.[4]
In January 2002, Almalki was one of seven targets of simultaneous search warrants by Project O Canada, and faxes detailing the sale of field radio components to Mohamad Elzahabi's brother, which were later entered as evidence by American prosecutors who had obtained it from Project O Canada.[3]
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[edit] Arrest in Syria
On May 3 2002, Almalki arrived in Syria for the first time since he was a child, to visit his ill grandmother.[4] Upon his arrival he was arrested on suspicion of terrorist connections.[4] His arrest was based on information sent to the Syrians by the Canadian government.
During the time Almalki was in a Syrian jail, he was not asked anything related to Syrian interests. Most questions were about his life in Canada. In an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation shortly after Arar's release from Syria, Arar described encountering Almalki in prison, weak, emaciated and suffering from the effects of torture.[5]
Almalki was released on $125 bail in March 2004 and the Syrian State Supreme Security Court acquitted him of all charges in July 2004. Almalki returned to Canada after the acquittal.
Almalki's case was taken up by many organizations in Canada, including Amnesty International. The Canadian government has convened an inquiry into the role Canadian authorities may have had in his case [6]. The inquiry also includes the role of Canadian officials into the cases of Ahmad Abouz-zElmaati and Muayyed Nureddin. The Canadian government inquiry into the Arar affair indicated that the Canadian government had sent questions to Syrian military intelligence for use in his interrogation.
[edit] See also
The following Canadian citizens have been sent to prisons in other countries under circumstances similar to Arar:
[edit] References
- ^ Abdullah Almalki: A brief biography, Amnesty International
- ^ Shephard, Michelle, Toronto Star, "Canadian loses bid to sue Jordan", March 1 2005
- ^ a b Duffy, Andrew. Ottawa Citizen, Almalki linked to US terror trial, March 14, 2007
- ^ a b c d e Journalism after September 11
- ^ Amnesty International 2004 annual report on human rights in Syria
- ^ http://www.iacobucciinquiry.ca/en/documents/index.htm Index of Documents, Internal Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abouz-zElmaati and Muayyed Nureddin
[edit] External links
- http://www.abdullahalmalki.com
- The Honourable Frank Iacobucci QC LLD, inquiry commissioner. Internal Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abouz-zElmaati and Muayyed Nureddin. Government of Canada. Retrieved on 2008-01-10.
- CBC: Syrian-Canadian home after 2-year ordeal
- http://www.amnesty.ca/take_action/actions/canada_foreign_detention.php
- http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41732.htm
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