U.S. Judge Dismisses Arar Lawsuit

“The need for much secrecy can hardly be doubted,” Trager wrote in his 88-page ruling. “One need not have much imagination to contemplate the negative effect on our relations with Canada if discovery were to proceed in this case and were it to turn out that certain high Canadian officials had, despite public denials, acquiesced in Arar’s removal to Syria.” He also noted Congress has yet to take a position on court reviews of cases like Arar’s, saying judges should be “hesitant” to hold officials liable for damages without “explicit direction” from legislators, “even if such conduct violates our treaty obligations or customary international law.” In Ottawa, Arar called the decision “very disappointing, emotionally very hard to digest.” “I was not expecting the judge to dismiss the entire case. I was hoping that he could let at least part of it proceed to discovery,” he said. “It is giving the green light to the Bush administration and the CIA to continue with their practice of rendition. http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&pubid=968163964505&cid=1140087492383&col=968705899037&call_page=TS_News&call_pageid=968332188492&call_pagepath=News/News

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