Maher Arar Saga Not Over Yet

Syrian-born Arar was detained by U.S. authorities on September 26, 2002, during a stopover in New York en route from Tunisia to Canada. The Canadian citizen was subsequently sent to Syria for torture under the controversial American practice of “extraordinary rendition” even though he had repeatedly requested that he be sent to Canada. He was eventually released and returned to Canada in October 2003 after Canada put pressure on Syria. According to the inquiry called after public outcry in Canada, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service agents acted on false and misleading information supplied by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). The comprehensive inquiry which lasted more than two years was headed by Ontario’s Associate Chief Justice and cost the public purse more than $16 million. The Commission findings paved the way for the Prime Minister’s formal apology to Arar on behalf of the Canadian government and settlement offer of $10.5 million plus legal fees to a settle a lawsuit launched by Arar. Even Canada’s top cop, RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli, resigned as a result of the Maher Arar controversy. Meanwhile, American authorities are refusing Canada’s request to purge Arar’s name from U.S. watch lists. His inclusion on U.S. lists effectively excludes Arar from at least one third of the world’s nations, according to his lawyers. U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Patrick Leahy has threatened to hold extensive hearings into Arar's lambasted the US's removal of Arar to Syria as absurd and outrageous, noting that instead of sending Arar a "couple of hundred miles to Canada and turned over to the Canadian authorities... he was sent thousands of miles away to Syria." He has called for the U.S. to apologize to Arar as well. CONTINUE READING: http://www.counterbias.com/847.html [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on February 9, 2007]

Note: http://www.counterbias....