Arar to break silence over U.S. arrest - 'no justification'

[dArKeR]

Ottawa — Maher Arar knows he can never get back the year of his life spent in a Syrian prison as a suspected terrorist, but he is determined to restore his reputation.

The 33-year-old Ottawa software engineer is to begin that task this morning. He plans to tell a news conference that U.S. authorities had no reason to arrest him last year, no evidence to accuse him of being part of the al-Qaeda terrorist network, and no justification for deporting him to Syria.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham is scheduled to testify today at a parliamentary committee dealing with the Arar affair and other recent cases of Canadians who have been imprisoned in the Middle East.

http://theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20031104.warar1104/BNStory/International/

[LeftistGorilla]

1. American BS....

no evidence he's part of Al Qaeda.. but sends him to Syria so they can whip his ass.... although he's lucky not to be in Gitmo...

[JohnyCanuck]

2. Actually the RCMP or CSIS could have played a part in this.

According to the man's lawyer, the US regs are that when deporting an individual if there is more than one possible destination due to dual citizenship etc. the deportee gets to state which country he wants to go to. However if a country to which he is being deported objects and raises security/terrorism concerns etc., then they will take that into account in making their decision as to the correct destination of the deportee.

Apparently US authorities have claimed that when they contacted Canadian officials about Arar's case and notified them that they wanted to deport Arar to Canada, they were told by Canadian security officials (either RCMP or CSIS, not sure which) they didn't want him in Canada (even though he has Canadian citizenship), and therefore by default he was sent to Syria. Now so far both the RCMP and CSIS have denied that they played any part in this, so it will be interesting to see what, if anything, comes out in the wash.

FYI, CSIS = Canadian Security and Intelligence Service. Responsible for domestic security against foreign intelligence agencies, terrorist groups etc.

[dArKeR]

3. Arar calls for public inquiry

Maher Arar says that the U.S. officials who deported him were privy to information that could only have come from Canada and called Tuesday for a public inquiry into possible complicity by CSIS or the RCMP in his arrest, deportation and eventual mistreatment by Syrian authorities.

“The past year has been a nightmare, both for me and my family,” he said Tuesday, breaking the silence about his treatment at the hands of U.S. and Syrian authorities.

“My priority right now is to clear my name, get to the bottom of the case and make sure this does not happen to any other Canadian in the future,” he said. “I believe the best way to go about achieving this goal is to put pressure on the government to call for a public inquiry.



http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20031104.wside1104/BNStory/International/

[DuctapeFatwa]

4. Has his tragic and coincidental accident been scheduled yet?

nt

[dArKeR]

5. Handling of Arar could result in charges: Dershowitz

Prominent Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz said Wednesday that the United States broke its own laws by deporting Maher Arar to a country that practises torture and warned that those responsible could face criminal sanction or civil suit.

Mr. Arar, who was born in Syria but emigrated in his teens and took Canadian citizenship, says that he was arrested at New York's Kennedy airport and deported to Jordan and then Syria. Although never charged with anything, he says that Syrian authorities tortured and mistreated him during a year-long imprisonment.

Abruptly released last month and flown home, Mr. Arar on Tuesday broke his silence to denounce his deportation and call for a public inquiry. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham and Solicitor-General Wayne Easter were quick to dismiss the need for a public inquiry, saying that a review procedure at the RCMP is looking into Mr. Arar's allegations.

http://theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20031105.warar1105_2/BNStory/National/

[Barrett808]

6. Collateral damage -- a small price to pay for winning the War on Terror

And spreading democracy. He should suck it up and be thankful that the adults are in charge.

[CHIMO]

7. Security

If you think that you are protected then read up on this story. The US government has more or less admitted that they are using this method to have others do their dirty work.
Pick on the weakest first!

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?GXHC_gx_session_id_=27f0312d5671aac9&pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1068032898375&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154

[dArKeR]

8. At home, Arar still haunted by anger and fear

Ottawa — Maher Arar drove his daughter to school the other day.

This simple act, Mr. Arar says in his first newspaper interview since his release last month, “was a great moment for me. It means I am almost back to a normal life and I am taking my responsibility as a father. I am back from the grave.”

Life isn't really back to normal, Mr. Arar knows. And the 33-year-old software engineer wonders whether it ever will be.

He suffers terrible nightmares about the 10 months he spent in solitary confinement in a Syrian prison. “This fear that I am going back is still with me. I feel it three or four times a day.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20031106.uararturn06ATL/BNStory/Front/

I'm telling you, Bush couldn't survive 1 day in solitary confinement!

[dArKeR]

9. RCMP passed along Arar's name, U.S. says

The name of Ottawa software engineer Maher Arar name was entered on a U.S. border watch list because of intelligence that came originally from Canada, U.S. sources say.

Mr. Arar, who was deported from New York last year to Syria, where he was tortured, was unknown to U.S. law-enforcement agencies until the RCMP passed his name along as a terrorist suspect, the U.S. sources said Friday.

“Arar first came to our attention from information from the Canadian government,” a U.S. official who has been closely involved in the case said.

http://theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20031108.warar0811/BNStory/Front/

The blame game. Is the U.S. responsible for anything?