Abousfian Abdelrazik's detention as a suspected terrorist was Kafkaesque. Michael Ignatieff's failure to help him is shameful
In August 2003, Canadian Abousfian Abdelrazik flew to his native Sudan from his home in Montreal to visit his mother. He didn't return for almost six years. His extended stay was granted by the Canadian government and included interrogations by the Canadian Security Intelligent Service (CSIS), the FBI and Sudanese police. It featured prison time, alleged torture, a year-long residency at the Canadian embassy in Khartoum and almost no chance of coming home. Why? Because he wasn't a terrorist.
As early as 1999, Abdelrazik had been of interest to CSIS, who believed he had ties to the "millennium bomber" Ahmed Ressam, that he knew Osama bin Laden, and that he had at one time attended an al-Qaida training camp. But, despite this, Abdelrazik had flown to Sudan on his Canadian passport without any trouble. It wasn't until he was in Khartoum that he was taken from the street and detained on suspicion of terrorism.
No charges were ever filed, yet he was held for 11 months, until July 2004. He was finally released, only to find that he had been placed on the US no-fly list, and that Air Canada and Lufthansa (with whom he'd booked his flight) refused to allow him on board. Worse still, his passport had expired while he was in prison.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/jul/21/canada-abdelrazik-ignatieff-terrorism