The case of Maher Arar

The story of a Canadian citizen arrested in the U.S. and deported to Syria where he was held for a year and tortured in a cell he described as "exactly like a grave" is covered by TalkLeft in a series of reports here. A few excerpts are quote below.

And here is Canada.com's article with Arar's full public statement.

I wonder why they hate us.

"Mr. Arar, 32, was deported to Syria on Oct. 7 or Oct. 8 from Kennedy Airport in New York during a stopover on his way home to Montreal, officials at the Department of Foreign Affairs revealed yesterday. The Canadian government was not contacted about Mr. Arar's case until after he had been deported, on Oct. 10."

"Mr. Arar, who holds dual Syrian-Canadian citizenship, has not set foot on Syrian soil in 16 years. The thought that her husband is back in the country he chose to leave pains [his wife]. "Just the idea is a torture for him," she said. "Syria is not a democratic country. Anything can happen there. "The proof: I don't know where he is and I have no contact with him."

"In a speech yesterday, [Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Bill] Graham said Canada has "registered our protest to the United States. Our position is that a person travelling on a Canadian passport is a Canadian citizen and has a right to be treated as a Canadian citizen."

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The 32-year-old Ottawa engineer was returning, via Zurich, from a family vacation to Tunisia, when he was detained during a stopover at Kennedy airport in New York on Sept. 26, 2002. U.S. officials then deported him to Syria.

Arar was accused of having links to Al Qaeda, which his family and supporters deny. It was reported that Syria - which he had not visited since immigrating to Canada at 17 in 1988 - planned to try him for membership in a banned organization called the Muslim Brotherhood.

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Maher Arar, 33, who was released last month, said at a news conference in Ottawa that he pleaded with U.S. authorities to let him continue on to Canada, where he has lived for 15 years and has a family. But instead, he was flown under U.S. guard to Jordan and handed over to Syria, where he was born. Arar denied any connection to terrorism and said he would fight to clear his name.

U.S. officials said Tuesday that Arar was deported because he had been put on a terrorist watch list after information from "multiple international intelligence agencies" linked him to terrorist groups. Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the Arar case fits the profile of a covert CIA "extraordinary rendition" -- the practice of turning over low-level, suspected terrorists to foreign intelligence services, some of which are known to torture prisoners.

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"Normally, a U.S. immigration court would deport a foreign citizen back to his last point of departure - in this case Zurich - but Mr. Arar was ordered sent to Syria. Mr. Arar's supporters in Canada have said he could face severe punishment in Syria because he avoided compulsory military service before leaving the country for Canada as a teenager."