Former Afghan interpreter details alleged sexual abuse by Global Affairs employee

WARNING: This article may affect those who have experienced​ ​​​sexual violence or know someone affected by it.

Clutching a teddy bear and trembling through her story in the witness box, a female former Afghan interpreter who worked for Canada in Afghanistan detailed the harrowing sexual abuse she allegedly suffered at the hands of a Canadian government employee.

For four days this week, the woman, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, recounted to an Ottawa courtroom how the alleged abuse started when she was 17, shortly after moving to Canada in October 2011, and went on until 2013.

"He called me his sex toy, a whore and a bitch," the woman said of her alleged attacker, whose family she was living with during some of the alleged abuse.

Isolated, thousands of miles away from her family in Kandahar, she said she couldn't draw on support from her mother, father, siblings or friends. Coming from an honour culture, she said, meant that if word of the alleged abuse reached her father there would be dire consequences. 

"He would kill me," she said. "Its always a woman's fault in Afghanistan."

Galal Eldien Ali, who worked for the Canadian International Development Agency as a technical adviser in Kandahar from 2009 to 2012, is facing numerous charges. According to his LinkedIn page, Ali worked for Global Affairs Canada until May 2024.

A request to confirm Ali's continued employment with Global Affairs was not completed by deadline.

The 64-year-old Ottawa resident's charges include sexual assault, sexual exploitation of a young person, assault, uttering threats and extortion.

In a civil trial that will begin next year, the complainant is suing Ali for $1.75 million, seeking punitive damages for mental suffering and loss of future or past economic gain.

The woman also filed a suit against the Canadian government for more than $1 million, but that case was settled out of court this summer.

The court heard this week that the woman, educated in a Canadian-funded school in Afghanistan, began working as an interpreter at Camp Nathan Smith in Kandahar when she was 15. At 17 she learned that she was eligible to move to Canada through a special immigration program for interpreters and jumped at the opportunity. 

"My first, one and only, goal was to pursue post-secondary education in Canada," she told the court. 

Initially, the woman said, her father refused to let her go because she was young and he was concerned she would be vulnerable to sexual exploitation. She discussed her disappointment with Ali, who also worked at the camp. She said Ali told her he would speak to her dad.