Abousfian Abdelrazik is home again in Canada after six nightmarish years in Sudan, but his ordeal is not over. He finds himself on a United Nations terrorist blacklist – the 1267 – which imposes a total asset freeze on him and all listed individuals. Canadian regulations implementing this list prohibit anyone from providing Mr. Abdelrazik with any kind of material aid, including salary, loans of any amount, food or clothing. He can barely survive while on this list.
“I need my named removed from that list,” he says. “I want to live my life like a normal Canadian.”
Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon, who refuses to meet with Mr. Abdelrazik, cynically advised him of a UN website that explains how he can try to be “delisted” from the 1267 terrorist blacklist [www.un.org/sc/committees/1267/index.shtml]. The Harper government, which has already caused this Canadian citizen such terrible damage, will not help him in any way. Yet like everything at the United Nations, delisting is an intensely politicized process. No one has actually been removed unless his government has lobbied on his behalf.
The Security Council committee that places people on the blacklist was established “pursuant to resolution 1267 (1999) concerning Al-Qaeda and the Taliban and Associated Individuals and Entities.” Its function was to oversee the implementation of sanctions imposed on Taliban-controlled Afghanistan for its support of Osama bin Laden. The 9/11 terrorist attacks gave it even more urgency.
Any UN member can submit the name of an individual or organization to be added to the blacklist for allegedly associating with the Taliban or al-Qaeda. All names must be supported by the entire 15-member Security Council. While these names become public, evidence to back the allegations does not. The council can, by unanimous agreement, also delist theses names, as Mr. Cannon magnanimously advised Mr. Abdelrazik (as if he didn't know). How does one get delisted? The website explains that any person or group on the list “may submit a petition for delisting. In the delisting submission, the petitioner needs to provide justification for the delisting request, offer relevant information and request support for the delisting.”
When the United States had Mr. Abdelrazik added to the blacklist, they alleged he was a senior al-Qaeda operative who knew Mr. bin Laden, fought in Chechnya and was trained at a terrorist camp in Afghanistan. If any evidence for these charges exists, no one has ever seen it. Mr. Abdelrazik categorically denies every accusation and both CSIS and the RCMP have cleared him entirely. But he is of course unable to provide the 1267 committee with any “relevant information” proving his innocence except his word. How can you prove a negative? By definition, no evidence exists refuting these allegations. Now Mr. Abdelrazik's backers fear he'll be blackballed again by the United States, this time at the hands of the Obama administration.
According to the committee's website, the 1267 list now includes 142 individuals “associated with” the Taliban, 258 individuals “associated with” al-Qaeda, and 111 outfits “associated with” al-Qaeda. No evidence is adduced to back these charges. (Abousfian Abdelrazik is the only Canadian now on the list.)
The relationship between the Security Council and states is what drives this thing. There's no relationship between the Security Council and individuals.— Richard Barrett, United Nations 1267 watchlist committee
In fact, the list is something of a shambles, evoking those nostalgic days of yore when U.S. Senator Joe McCarthy would wildly wave a sheet of paper claiming it contained 17, 117, 1,700 names of card-carrying Communists in the State Department. No one knows what's real about the names on the 1267 list either, or whether they all even exist. Two weeks ago, the Austrian ambassador to the United Nations, who chairs this committee, told reporters that of 513 entries on the list, 38 people are reported or believed to be dead. “It is not the purpose of the list to contain dead people,” he announced.
