(OTTAWA) The Canadian government is seeking a court injunction to stop a former Saudi spy from revealing information deemed sensitive to national security in a civil lawsuit against him.
Posted at 5:21 p.m.
In the motion filed in Federal Court, government lawyers are asking that an order be made based on the Evidence Act in Canada to prevent the disclosure of certain documents as well as an injunction prohibiting Saad Aljabri or his representatives from transmitting certain information to the Ontario courts.
This is the latest twist in the legal saga involving Mr. Aljabri, who alleges that he was targeted by a group of assassins sent to Canada by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.
A group of Saudi companies have gone to Ontario Superior Court because they claim they were cheated out of billions of dollars by Mr. Aljabri, who now resides in Toronto. These companies were allegedly created by the Saudi government to serve as a cover for counter-terrorism operations.
Mr. Aljabri denies any responsibility and claims that these companies are controlled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who took power in 2017.
After working for years in the intelligence service of Saudi Arabia, Saad Aljabri pleads that the prosecution against him in Ontario court is part of an operation to intimidate and harm him because he was a important ally of former Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef Al Saud.
Two years ago, Aljabri filed a lawsuit in a US court in which he said Prince bin Salman sent assassins after him in Canada shortly after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The latter was killed inside the Saudi embassy in Turkey in October 2018. Also according to Mr. Aljabri, the plot against him was foiled by the Canadian authorities.
In parallel with their lawsuit in Ontario, the Saudi companies have taken legal action against Mr. Aljabri in a US court. The United States government, however, exercised state secrecy privilege, which led to the charges being dropped last year.
In support of his quest to see the case dismissed by the Ontario court, lawyer John Adair, who is defending Mr. Aljabri, has indicated that he will file a notice of motion and a sworn statement in court.
These documents “will likely contain information that overlaps with information excluded from the US proceedings because they were protected by state secrets”, can we read in the request for an injunction from the Canadian government filed in Federal Court.
On May 24, federal attorneys warned Mr.e Adair that the documents he was about to file in the Ontario court “constituted confidential or potentially injurious information” and that he should first inform the Attorney General as required by the Evidence Act.
Me Adair allegedly disputed that the law applied to the circumstances of his approach and insisted that the U.S. government would have to intervene in Canadian proceedings if it wanted to protect the information, according to Ottawa.
Then, on May 31, the Attorney General received an opinion from an official of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), in connection with the Evidence Act, that she believed sensitive information was about to be disclosed in the Ontario court proceedings. The same day, Mr.e Adair was informed that a regulatory prohibition prevented him from disclosing these documents.
In a letter written on 1er June, Me Adair maintains its position that the Evidence Act does not apply to his case and that he still intended to file the documents in court.
In response, the federal government lawyers’ motion states that “since the federal government does not accept the clear legal authority” of the Evidence Act in Canada “an injunction is necessary to prevent Mr.e Adair from releasing information that could harm national security.”
Government lawyers say the Attorney General intends to grant a hearing to discuss the confidentiality of the documents at the heart of this case, but they warn that “this process will take time”.
“However, the need for an injunction remains pressing,” they write.
Email correspondence relating to the matter indicates that exchanges took place between the lawyers earlier this month and Ms.e Adair reportedly assured that he would not file said documents until June 13.
Me Adair was not available at this time to answer our questions. It has not been specified when the hearing on the federal government’s injunction request might take place.