Lamine Ghanmi – Maghreb News
The brother-in-law of ousted Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali has disappeared in Canada ahead of his deportation, but his lawyer says he will continue to challenge the removal order.
Belhassen Trabelsi, a wealthy Tunisian businessman, moved to Canada after Ben Ali was ousted in 2011 in a wave of protests against his 23 years of power. Trabelsi was due to be deported on Tuesday and had been challenging that order.
Jean-Francois Bertrand, a lawyer in Montreal, said on Thursday he still represents Trabelsi, despite telling a Canadian court last week he does not know where his client is. As a result, Canada’s Federal Court dismissed a bid to suspend Trabelsi’s removal order. The court also noted Trabelsi did not turn up for a meeting with immigration officials on May 24.
Bertrand said he does not know where Trabelsi is, although he has been in frequent contact with his wife, who said only that her husband was « going away. » « I guess he felt that his health did not allow him to stay around and be arrested and be taken back to Tunisia, » he said.
Bertrand said Trabelsi has a heart condition and prostate cancer and « very heavy depression, apparently » and will not fare well in Tunisia, where he says his two brothers died from lack of medical care in prison.
Bertrand said Trabelsi may be arrested should he turn up, but that he will continue to advocate for his client.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corp reported in 2011 that the country’s government has revoked Trabelsi’s residency status.
The government then refused to comment on the issue, citing privacy law restrictions. Residency status grants non-Canadians the right to live in the country without having citizenship. It is not known how long Trabelsi had had residency status, which requires a sometimes lengthy application process.
Separately, Trabelsi and his family have applied for refugee status in Canada, though only his wife and two children received it, Bertrand said.
Tunisia has issued an arrest warrant for Ben Ali, who fled to Saudi Arabia with his wife, and several of his relatives, who amassed vast riches during his two decades in power and controlled many of the country’s biggest companies. The Public Safety Canada federal department on Thursday referred questions to the Canada Border Services Agency, which did not immediately respond.