A decision to send CSIS officers overseas to interrogate a Canadian terror suspect detained in Egypt likely contributed to his mistreatment there, a new report supplement concludes.

Ahmad El Maati was arrested in Syria in November 2001. The Egyptian-Canadian was in the country to get married, but instead spent more than two months in the notorious Far Falestin prison in Damascus.

In January 2002, El Maati was transferred to Egypt, where he was held for the next two years. El Maati, now 45, alleges he was tortured in both Syria and Egypt.

At a news conference in Ottawa Tuesday, he alleged he was blindfolded, handcuffed, and shocked in the hands, back, and genitals while held in solitary confinement.

El Maati says he has undergone a number of surgeries, and is unable to walk even short distances.

"My whole life is completely destroyed," said the former truck driver.

"I need an apology. They ruined my life, I can't work anymore now."

Ottawa held an internal inquiry into El Maati's treatment, along with the cases of two other Arab-Canadians -- Abdullah Almalki and Muayyed Nureddin -- who were also mistreated at the hands of their Syrian captors.

All three men have denied any involvement in terrorism.

Former Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci, who headed the inquiry, reported his findings in two different forms in October 2008 -- one confidential version for the government to review, another that was released for public consumption.

In new documents released Tuesday, Iacobucci said El Maati "suffered mistreatment of some form as a consequence of the Service's interaction with Egyptian authorities."

Iacobucci wrote that CSIS asked Egyptian officials in June 2002 if El Maati was in their custody, but did not take into account how this would affect "the manner in which he might be treated."

CSIS and RCMP witnesses told the inquiry it is not the responsibility of intelligence officials to be concerned about the human rights of a Canadian detainee. They said the responsibility lies with the Department of Foreign Affairs.

But Iacobucci said he didn't agree.

"This approach is not, in my opinion, satisfactory," Iacobucci said.

Iacobucci said in a December 2002 visit to Egypt, CSIS agents "did not make any inquiries with Egyptian authorities about Mr. El Maati's treatment in either Syria or Egypt, despite knowing that Mr. El Maati had alleged that he was tortured in Syria."

In the first version of his report, Iacobucci said CSIS was "deficient" in the way it described El Maati as "an individual involved in the Islamic extremist movement."

But Iacobucci could not include all the information he wanted to in his public report, because of restrictions placed on the inquiry that related to national security concerns.

After a year of haggling, commission lawyers and government members came to an agreement whereby Iacobucci could release Tuesday's supplement to his original report, revealing new details about the internal inquiry.

The bottom line is that "CSIS agents not only contacted Egyptian authorities with allegations about Mr. El Maati, the agents actually travelled to Egypt," CTV's Roger Smith explained from Ottawa on Tuesday morning.

They also passed on their suspicions about El Maati to Egyptian authorities and undertook their trip to Egypt without notifying Foreign Affairs about their activities.

"Diplomats in Cairo were going to visit Mr. El Maati to make sure everything was fine with him, at the same time, CSIS agents were secretly talking to Egyptian authorities suggesting that Mr,. El Maati had links to al Qaeda and this led to the mistreatment that Canadian diplomats were trying to prevent," said Smith.

El Maati, Almalki and Nurredin are currently suing the Canadian government and they are looking for compensation. But Ottawa has denied any responsibility for what happened to them.

With files from The Canadian Press