CBC (Friday): Canada should have intervened in Arar case says UN report

[Jack Rabbit]

From the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Dated Friday May 20 7:08 pm EDT (4:08 pm PDT)

Canada should have intervened in Arar case: UN report

Geneva - A United Nations report has come out criticizing the Canadian government for its treatment of Maher Arar, the Syrian-born engineer who was deported back to his homeland and tortured.

The UN committee against torture issued its conclusions Friday after reviewing Canada's compliance with the Convention Against Torture. The 10-member committee is examining seven countries as part of its latest session including Albania, Bahrain, Finland, Switzerland, Togo and Uganda.

The committee said Canada "should have intervened to protect (Arar)" from being sent to Syria after he stopped in New York City in 2002 while travelling back to Canada from Tunisia. Arar spent a year in a Syrian jail and maintains he was routinely tortured. A public inquiry into his case is ongoing in Ottawa.

The committee said Canada failed to uphold Article 3 of the convention, which states no person should be extradited "to another state where there were substantial grounds for believing that he or she would be in danger of being subjected to torture."

This is an example of extraordiniary rendition. It is still a crime against humanity for the US government to send a detainee, even one who, unlike Mr. Arar, might actually be guilty of something, to a third country for the purpose of torture.

[Spazito]

1. The could not be more right with regard to the Arar case...

the Canadian government's behavior in this case has been appalling and continues to be so while Mr. Arar's case winds it's way through the inquiry into the RCMP and CSIS's part in this injustice.

I am very glad this report has come out at this time. Hopefully it will put even more pressure on the government agencies to come clean regarding their part so Mr. Arar can have the answers that are due him.