The Supreme Court of Canada rejected a Carleton graduate’s bid to overturn a ruling which allowed the federal government to conceal documents involved in his $180 million lawsuit Jan. 19.
Abdullah Almalki is one of three former terror suspects wrongly imprisoned overseas, and all three have formed the civil suit, according to the Ottawa Citizen.
Almalki is a Carleton graduate who completed a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, according to his website.
The Federal Court originally ruled in favour of Almalki allowing him to use the contested documents in his civil suit, Almaki said.
“These documents are in the process of civil litigation,” he said.
Within minutes of this decision, he said the federal government appealed this ruling and the Federal Court of Appeal held closed-door hearings.
The court of appeal decided to overturn the Federal Court’s ruling, claiming the use of the documents was a matter of national security, Almalki said.
The Supreme Court of Canada’s refusal to hear the case is one of the most recent challenges faced by Almalki and two other Arab-Canadians involved in the civil suit.
“It’s disappointing but it’s not the end,” he said. “We’ve got good news and bad news over the years.”
After being detained by the Syrian government in 2002, Almaki was kept in custody for 22 months, according to his website. Almaki was labeled as “imminent threat” by the RCMP, and he claimed he was detained based on this false information provided by the RCMP and Canadian officials.
These claims were proven true in an internal inquiry on the actions of Canadian officials completed by Justice Frank Iacobucci.
The Iacobucci report found that “Almalki suffered mistreatment amounting to torture.”
“Mistreatment suffered by [Almalki] in Syria resulted indirectly from two actions of Canadian officials,” according to the report.
The Arar Inquiry found that after Almalki was detained in Syria, the RCMP sent questions to the Canadian ambassador to deliver Syrian officials in order to ask Almalki.
The RCMP did this with the knowledge that it could lead to further torture, according to the Arar Inquiry.
“We have government officials engaged in one of the most terrible international crimes anybody can do: torture,” Almalki said.
The federal government has denied accusations, according to the Ottawa Citizen.
Aside from financial compensation, Almalki said he’s looking for accountability on the part of the government officials who were responsible for his detention.
“We haven’t got any person in the government held accountable,” he said. “We have no confirmation that reforms have been made in the system.”
During his detention, Almaki said he was subject to whippings with electrical wires and forced to live in a tiny, windowless cell.
Carleton human rights professor Bill Skidmore is familiar with Almalki and the effects that torture had on his life.
“The guy’s an engineer and he can’t do simple math in his head anymore — so there’s the cognitive effects,” Skidmore said.
Almaki was diagnosed with severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, and is being treated for chronic pain in his hip, shoulder, and foot, according to his website.
Almalki has vowed to continue his fight for justice and hopes his story will be the last of its kind.
