WARNING: This article can affect those who have experienced sexual violence or knowing someone affected by him.
Grabbing a teddy bear and trembling in his history in the witness box, a former Afghan interpreter who worked for Canada in Afghanistan detailed the heartbreaking sexual abuse that he allegedly suffered at the hands of an employee of the Canadian government.
For four days this week, the woman, whose identity is protected by a publication prohibition, told a room in the Ottawa room how the alleged abuse began when she was 17 years old, shortly after moving to Canada in October 2011, and continued until 2013.
“He called me his sex toy, a whore and a bitch,” said the woman about her alleged attacker, whose family lived during some of the alleged abuse.
Isolated, thousands of miles from his family in Kandahar, said he could not resort to the support of his mother, father, brothers or friends. Coming from a culture of honor, he said, it meant that if the news of the alleged abuse reached his father, there would be dire consequences.
“I would kill me,” he said. “It is always a woman’s fault in Afghanistan.”
Galal Eldien Ali, who worked for the Canadian International Development Agency as a technical advisor at Kandahar from 2009 to 2012, faces numerous positions. According to his LinkedIn page, Ali worked for Global Affairs Canada until May 2024.
An application to confirm the continuous employment of ALI with global affairs was not completed in the deadline.
The positions of the 64 -year -old Ottawa resident include sexual aggression, sexual exploitation of a young person, assault, threats and extortion.
In a civil trial that will begin next year, the plaintiff is demanding Ali for $ 1.75 million, seeking punitive damage for mental suffering and the loss of future or past economic profits.
The woman also filed a lawsuit against the Canadian government for more than $ 1 million, but that case was resolved outside the courts this summer.
‘She is now your daughter’
The court heard this week that the woman, educated in a school financed by Canada in Afghanistan, began working as an interpreter at the Nathan Smith camp in Kandahar when she was 15 years old. At 17 he learned that he was eligible to move to Canada through a special immigration program for interpreters and took the opportunity.
“My first objective, one and unique, was to follow postsecundaria education in Canada,” he told the Court.
Initially, said the woman, her father refused to let her go because she was young and worried that she was vulnerable to sexual exploitation. She argued her disappointment with Ali, who also worked at the camp. She said Ali told her that she would talk to her father.
During a meeting between the three, the woman said, Ali put her hand on the Qur’an and swore that she would protect her in Canada.
After that tranquility, the woman said her father granted her permission. She said her father took Ali’s hand, put it on her head and told Ali that “is now your daughter.”
‘He tells me that I have to please sexually’
Then, the woman traveled to Ottawa in October 2011 to live with Ali, her wife and her children, while she followed her education.
Once in Ottawa, the woman says she asked Ali to help her register at the university and affirm that Ali said her English was not good enough and that she should try to undress. She claims that Ali told her because she was a little virgin, she could win $ 500 per night and that was the best way to help her family.
Determined to follow his education, he said he needed to take a language test to determine what level of classes he would need to take to improve his English. But when she asked her to organize the test, she demanded something in return.
“He tells me that I have to please him sexually before he takes me to the place of the test,” he told the court this week.
‘I tried to push it’
The woman continued describing how Ali would regularly enter her room without prior notice. She described in graphic detail, under question of the crown, how on more than one occasion, Ali touched and touched her sexually on her clothes, without consent.
She said that during an alleged assault in 2011, in the basement of the basement, her children, who were the same age as her, were at home.
“I tried to push it, but I have no strength,” he said, explaining that when she started shouting she took her to another room with her hand on her mouth.
“There were two things in my head before that,” he told the Court. “I was going to be raped or was going to die.”
After an alleged assault in his room, he said that Ali told him that he had hidden cameras in his room and that he would send a video of the two to his father in Afghanistan if he told someone. She said she was terrified and confused and knew that if her father found out, her mother and her sisters would also be punished.
The woman told the court that she moved from the family home of Ali on February 1, 2012, a few months after arriving in Canada, and then moved again several months later, both times in accommodation where there were no men present.
In the summer of 2013, he claimed that Ali called her, saying he wanted to meet. If she rejected the appointment, he would send a video of the two to her father, she told the Court.
She says they met in the Byward market, climbed into her car and he led them to Montreal, where she had fixed a hotel.
She provided detailed descriptions of the prolonged sexual abuse that she supposedly suffered in the hands of Ali in that hotel room, and her use of a camera to film what happened.
“I remember that I had a black camera. I remember it was a family camera, because I have also seen that camera in your home,” he said.
Memories of ‘Brumous’ Assaults
The woman alleges that Ali took her to a nearby shopping center, bought her purple lace lingerie and made her put it when they returned to the hotel.
Ali allegedly showed photos of himself shaking his hand with former prime minister Stephen Harper, former defense minister Peter Mackay and former governor General David Johnston. She told the Court that Ali threatened her, saying that if she revealed what she was doing, she had powerful friends and influence to ensure that her immigration state was revoked.
The woman told court that the photos seemed false. No photos of that description were entered in evidence.
On the way home from Montreal the next morning, Ali supposedly took her to La Ronde’s Park, put it on several walks and took photos.
During the interrogation, Ali’s defense lawyer took it through each accusation, asking him to provide precise details of the events.
Some of the alleged incidents lacked details about their sequence, detail, time or extension. She said there were other incidents that she did not remember initially, but that they went to the surface later.
She said that after the “Montreal incident”, he was so traumatized that his exact memory of the alleged abuse is “confusing” or “misty.”
The woman explained that she is facing the post -traumatic stress disorder and has been treated for depression.
The defense lawyer of Ali repeatedly challenged the woman, which suggests that the incidents never happened. “It happened. That’s why I’m talking about that. If it didn’t happen, it wouldn’t be here,” she replied.
After four days of testimony, the trial was postponed so that the crown and the defense lawyer could deal with a technical problem regarding the introduction of new evidence.
Women’s interrogation will resume in the OTTAWA Palace on Monday.
If you are in immediate or fears for your safety or that of others around you, call 911. To obtain support in your area, you can search for local crisis and services through the Finish the database of the Canada Sexual Violence Association.
