Abdullah Almalki - Return To Canada

Return To Canada

In 1997, Maher Arar listed Almalki as his "emergency contact" with his landlord.

In 1998, when he returned to Canada to open an electronics export business Dawn Services with his wife, he was questioned twice by Canadian Security Intelligence Service agent Theresa Sullivan, who asked him to "speculate" about Khadr's possible relations to Islamic militants, whether he had ever sold nuclear material to Pakistan, or walkie-talkies to the Taliban - all of which Almalki said seemed like ridiculous claims.

In 1999, he expanded his business to take on four employees and rent office space in a business park, while beginning to import cellphones to supplement his earnings.

In 2000, and again following the September 11, 2001 attacks, CSIS agent Violaine Pepin spoke to him to ask about a Muslim associate with a pilot's license with whom Almalki had flown to Hong Kong in 1999 to sell radios in the final weeks of Y2K.

After Maher Arar had moved back to Ottawa, he had a meeting with Almalki on October 12, 2001. They met at the Mango Café, a popular shawarma restaurant in a strip mall and talked about doctors and bought a print cartridge together. The following month, Almalki flew to Malaysia to visit his mother-in-law.

In January 2002, Almalki was one of seven targets of simultaneous search warrants by Project O Canada, and faxes detailing the sale of field radio components to Mohamad Elzahabi's brother, which were later entered as evidence by American prosecutors who had obtained it from Project O Canada.