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 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.

[edit] Arrest in Syria

In 2002, Almalki returned to Syria to visit relatives. This was Almalki's first visit since leaving the country as a boy. Prior to this visit, Almalki always filled the necessary documentation to defer his military service. Upon his arrival he was arrested on suspicion of terrorist connections. 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 CBC shortly after Arar's release from Syria, Arar described encountering Almalki in prison, weak, emaciated and suffering from the effects of torture.^[2]

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. United Nations committee on human rights, Abdullah Almalki, and his supporters have demanded a full government investigation into what happened to him, and into what role, if any, the Canadian government played in his detention. 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.