Maher Arar

[RadioactiveMan]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/arar/

There hasn't been much in the way of news in this case except for the RCMP commissioner's resignation earlier this month. However, I think that it's an important story.

Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen born in Syria in 1970, came to Canada in 1987. After earning bachelor's and master's degrees in computer engineering, Arar worked in Ottawa as a telecommunications engineer.

On a stopover in New York as he was returning to Canada from a vacation in Tunisia in September 2002, U.S. officials detained Arar, claiming he has links to al-Qaeda, and deported him to Syria, even though he was carrying a Canadian passport.

When Arar returned to Canada more than a year later, he said he had been tortured during his incarceration and accused American officials of sending him to Syria knowing that they practise torture.

His wife Monia Mazigh has a PhD in financial economics and ran for the NDP in the 2004 federal election in the riding of Ottawa South. She lost. Arar and Mazigh have two young children. In the summer of 2006, the family relocated to Kamloops, B.C., where Mazigh took a teaching position at Thompson Rivers University.

Arar and his family are seeking compensation from the federal government for his abrupt deportation and imprisonment in Syria. Judge Dennis O'Connor, who conducted the inquiry into the matter, recommended in his report dated Sept. 18, 2006 that Ottawa pay up.

A long timeline follows that brief introduction and there are a number of other pages including one about two others detained in Syria. That article includes the following quote.

Syrian interrogators beat the soles of his feet with steel cables, trying to make him confess to being a member of al-Qaeda.

Frequently asked questions regarding the 'Arar affair.'

Article regarding police raids of newspaper offices. Raids were in connection to the Arar affair.
The thing that I find most interesting about that article is its mention of the 'Security of Information Act,' which certainly sounds like it was written to directly challenge the Freedom of Information Act.

Arar Inquiry- an invenstigation into the deportation of Maher Arar.


I think that it illustrates the post-9/11 atmosphere of fear and also shows a complete disregard of public freedom. Not only did they detain him, but they sent him, a Canadian citizen and resident, to Syria where they practice torture. This was simply an excuse to practice, as one article put it, torture by proxy. Even had he been a terrorist agent, I would still not advocate his deportation to Syria. Even in that case he would deserve imprisonment in Canada, not torture.

[RadioactiveMan]

http://www.mytelus.com/news/article....icleID=2524258

The article says that the USA is keeping Arar on their watch list. I think that it's silly, but I doubt that it would make much of a difference since if I was Arar I wouldn't be going back the the United States.

[Swiss Miss]

Originally Posted by RadioactiveMan

http://www.mytelus.com/news/article....icleID=2524258

The article says that the USA is keeping Arar on their watch list. I think that it's silly, but I doubt that it would make much of a difference since if I was Arar I wouldn't be going back the the United States.

If he wants to make an even bigger statement, he should come back here! I really do hate how overprotective and stubborn the government got after the Patriot Act but it's all in the branches of government's hands now.

I saw an episode of Boston Legal last week and they did the show about the "No Fly List" and one of the attorneys ended up on it and wasn't able to meet his girlfriend in Hawaii for the weekend. The firm sued the government and won. There are many cases out there like this but the government still has not changed their policy or updated their procedures. It's a damn shame but it's out of our hands at this point.