A man who spent 14 years in prison at Guantanamo is suing the Canadian government for $ 35 million for his alleged role in a series of events that led to his detention, during which he was tortured.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Mohamedou Ould Slahi in the Federal Court of Canada on Friday, alleges that the Canadian authorities have taken actions that “provoke, contribute to and prolong [his] detention, torture, assault and sexual assault in Guantánamo Bay. “
Slahi, a Moorish citizen, lived in Montreal from November 1999 to January 2000, during which time he was investigated by security services. Slahi, 51, accused Canadian authorities of harassing him during his investigation, and stress forced him to return to Mauritania.
At the heart of Slahi’s allegation is that Canadian authorities shared false information about his activities and otherwise contributed to events that eventually led to his arrest, after which he was transported first to Jordan and Afghanistan, and then to Guantánamo, where he spent 14 years in prison without recharging.
“Sharing misinformation from Canada has caused a vicious echo camera,” the lawsuit said. The suit was first announced by the Toronto Star on Saturday.
“Advanced interrogation techniques” were used.
Canada’s attorney general, who represents the government, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.
During his detention, Slahi wrote several books, including memoirs, which formed the basis of the 2021 film The Moorish. Slahi is now a full-time writer in Dutch theater.
During Slahi’s arrest in 2002, officials suspected him of links to terrorism, in part because he was praying at the same mosque in Montreal as Ahmed Resam’s attempted “Millennium Assassin.” Slahi said he also traveled twice to Afghanistan to fight the Soviet-backed Afghan government in the early 1990s.
U.S. investigators, suspecting Slahi of al Qaeda membership, used “advanced interrogation techniques” that are now considered torture.
“In the end, the torture broke him. Slahi began to admit the lies that his interrogators told him,” the lawsuit said. One of the false confessions was a plot to blow up the CN Tower in Toronto, which Slahi said he had never heard of.
There have been several high-profile cases of compensation for persons who have been detained or tortured, which have been contributed to by the Canadian authorities. Maher Arar, for example, received $ 10.5 million in 2007 after his detention in Syria, and the government settled a case against Guantanamo detainee Omar Kadr for the same amount in 2017.
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