Maher Arar
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2008-07-15T11:00:21Z
Rjwilmsi
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gen fixes + link/fix date fields in cite templates (explanation [[User:Rjwilmsi#My_correction_of_dates_in_templates|here]]) using [[Project:AutoWikiBrowser|AWB]]
'''Maher Arar''' (born 1970), a telecommunications engineer, lives in [[Canada]], holding dual [[Syria]]n and Canadian citizenship. He was deported to Syria and tortured, in an apparent example of the United States policy of "[[extraordinary rendition]]".<ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]] |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/arar/renditions.html|title="Renditions: Extraordinary, erroneous, ineffective?"
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[Inter Press Service]] |url=http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40060|title="RIGHTS-US: Rendition Victim Appeals Ruling Barring Suit"}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[The New York Times]] |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/19/opinion/19mon3.html|title="Rendition, Torture and Accountability" (editorial)}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://agonist.org/canuck/20070118/senator_patrick_leahy_tears_a_strip_off_u_s_attorney_general_alberto_gonzales|title=Senator Patrick Leahy, tears a strip off U.S. Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales |publisher=Toronto Star newspaper |author=Tim Harper |date=2007-01-18}}</ref>
He was detained during a layover at [[John F. Kennedy International Airport]] in September 2002 on his way home to Canada from a family vacation in Tunis. He was held in [[solitary confinement]] in the U.S. for nearly two weeks, questioned, and denied meaningful access to a lawyer. The U.S. Government suspected him of being a member of [[Al Qaeda]] and deported him, not to Canada, his current home, but to his native Syria, even though the nation is known to use torture on suspects.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[United States Department of State]], Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor | url=http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001/nea/8298.htm | title=Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2001 (Syria) | year=2001}}</ref> He was detained in Syria for almost a year, during which time he was regularly tortured, according to the findings of the Arar Commission, until his release to Canada.<ref name="Arar Inquiry Press Release Sept. 6, 2007">{{cite web|publisher=Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar]|url=http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/206/301/pco-bcp/commissions/maher_arar/07-09-13/www.ararcommission.ca/eng/PressReleaseFinal_sept-06-2007.pdf|format=PDF|title=Maher Arar will not testify before the Commission of Inquiry|date=2007-09-06}}</ref>
The Canadian government ordered a [[commission of inquiry]] which concluded that he was tortured based upon interviews with Arar and others.<ref name="ToopeReport">{{cite web|url=http://www.ararcommission.ca/eng/ToopeReport_final.pdf |title=Report of the Events Relating to Maher Arar: Report of Professor Stephen J. Toope Fact Finder |year=2006|format=PDF}}</ref> His statements were not taken under [[oath]], and standards set down by the [[Istanbul Protocol]] for determining the effects of torture were not used.<ref name="WS20070226">{{cite news| publisher=[[Western Standard]] | url=http://www.westernstandard.ca/website/article.php?id=2333 | first=Kevin | last=Steel | title=What really happened to Maher Arar? | year=February 26, 2007 }}</ref> The [[commission of inquiry]] publicly cleared Arar of any links to terrorism, and gave him a $10.5 million [[Canadian dollar]] settlement.<ref name="settlement20070126" /> The Syrian government reports it knows of no links of Arar to terrorism.
The United States government, however, refuses to clear Arar’s name and maintains both him and his family on a [[watchlist]]. His U.S. lawyers at the [[Center for Constitutional Rights]] are currently pursuing his case, ''Arar v. Ashcroft'', which seeks [[Damages|compensatory damages]] on Arar’s behalf and also a declaration that the actions of the U.S. government were illegal and violated his constitutional, civil, and international human rights. Maintenance of Mr. Arar on the watchlist helps the government's defence of the lawsuit, particularly if details are withheld for reasons of national security.
==Biography==
===Early life===
Maher Arar was born in Syria and moved to Canada with his parents at the age of 17 in 1988 to avoid [[Conscription|mandatory military service]]. In 1991, Arar became a [[Canadian nationality law|Canadian citizen]].<ref name=ArarCommissionFactualBackgroundPg218>{{cite book|url=http://www.ararcommission.ca/eng/Vol_I_English.pdf|title=Report of the Events Relating to Maher Arar: Factual Background, Volume 1|isbn=ISBN 0-660-19648-4|year=2006|format=PDF}} see page 218, note 282</ref>
Arar earned a bachelor's degree in [[computer engineering]] from [[McGill University]] and a master's degree in telecommunications from the [[Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique]] (a branch of the [[Université du Québec]]) in [[Montreal, Quebec|Montreal]]. While studying at McGill University, Arar met [[Monia Mazigh]]. Arar and Mazigh married in 1994. Ms. Mazigh has a [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] in [[finance]] from McGill. They have two young children: Barâa and Houd.<ref name=Cbc031104>{{cite web|first=Maher|last=Arar|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/arar/arar_statement.html|title=Maher Arar: statement|publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]]|date=2003-11-04}}</ref>
In December 1997, Arar moved with his family to [[Ottawa, Ontario|Ottawa]] from Montreal and listed [[Abdullah Almalki]] as his "emergency contact" with his landlord.<ref>[[Michelle Shephard|Shephard, Michelle]], [[Toronto Star]], "Canadian loses bid to sue Jordan", March 1 2005</ref> In 1999, he moved again to Boston to work for [[The MathWorks]] Inc., a job that required a considerable amount of travel within the United States.<ref>{{cite news|first=Don|last=Butler|title=The Arar Chronicles: From Success to Suspect (Part 1)|publisher=[[Ottawa Citizen]]|date=2006-12-08|page=A1}}</ref> In 2001, Arar returned to Ottawa to start his own consulting company, Simcomms Inc. At the time of his rendition, Arar was employed in Ottawa as a telecommunications engineer.
===Project A-O Canada and the events leading up to Arar's rendition===
After he had moved back to Ottawa, Arar had a meeting with [[Abdullah Almalki]] on October 12, 2001. Almalki, an Ottawa engineer, was also born in Syria and had moved to Canada in the same year as Arar. They met at the Mango Café, a popular [[shawarma]] restaurant in a strip mall and talked about doctors and bought a print cartridge together.<ref name="Person of Interest">{{cite news|first=Don|last=Butler|title=The Arar Chronicles: Person of Interest (Part 1)|publisher=[[Ottawa Citizen]]|date=2006-12-08|page=A4}}</ref>
At the time their movements were under close scrutiny by at least three police surveillance teams.<ref name="Person of Interest"/> The surveillance was prompted by [[Project A-O Canada]], a [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]] (RCMP)-led terrorism investigation team based in Ottawa and a subdivision of [[Project O Canada]] which was based in Toronto. Project O Canada was created by the RCMP when the [[Canadian Security Intelligence Service]] (CSIS) delegated responsibility for its [[national security]] investigation concerning Abdullah Almalki to the RCMP. CSIS had been monitoring Almalki at least since 1998 with respect to his relationship with [[Ahmed Said Khadr]], an Egyptian-born Canadian and alleged senior associate of [[Osama bin Laden]]. CSIS was also concerned with Mr. Almalki's electronic components export business that he operated with his wife. Mr. Almalki, however, was purely a [[person of interest]] and was not, in fact, the target of the investigation. Nonetheless, Mr. Almalki's meeting with Arar appears to have prompted a wider investigation, with Arar also becoming a "person of interest."<ref name="Person of Interest"/>
===Arar's rendition===
On September 26, 2002, during a stopover in [[New York City]] en route from a family vacation in Tunisia to Montreal, Arar was detained by the [[United States Immigration and Naturalization Service]]. The INS was acting upon information supplied by the RCMP.<ref name=ArarCommissionPg30>{{cite book|format=PDF|url=http://www.ararcommission.ca/eng/AR_English.pdf|title=Report of the Events Relating to Maher Arar: Analysis and Recommendations|isbn=0-660-19648-4|year=2006}} ''See page 30 in "Analysis and Recommendations"''.</ref> When it became clear he was going to be deported, Arar requested he be deported to Canada; though he had not visited Syria since his move to Canada, he retained Syrian citizenship as Syria does not permit the renunciation of citizenship. Although he was travelling on a [[Canadian passport]], Canadian officials erroneously informed the United States that he was no longer a resident of their nation. {{Fact|date=November 2007}} Canadian (initially) and [[United States|American]] officials have labelled his transfer to Syria as a deportation, but critics have called the removal an example of [[rendition (law)|rendition]] for [[torture by proxy]], as Syria's government is infamous for its torture of detainees.
===U.S. interrogation===
U.S. officials repeatedly questioned Arar about his connection to certain members of Al Qaeda. He repeatedly denied that he had any connections whatsoever to the named individuals.{{Fact|date=October 2007}} His interrogators also claimed that Arar was an associate of [[Abdullah Almalki]], the Syrian-born Ottawa man whom they suspected of having links to Al Qaeda, and they therefore suspected Arar of being an Al Qaeda member himself. When Arar protested that he only had a casual relationship with Almalki, having once worked with Almalki's brother at an Ottawa high-tech firm, the officials produced a copy of Arar's 1997 rental lease which Almalki had co-signed. The fact that U.S. officials had a Canadian document in their possession was later widely interpreted as evidence of the participation by Canadian authorities in Arar's detention.
Mr. Arar's requests for a lawyer were dismissed on the basis that he was not a [[United States nationality law|U.S. citizen]], therefore he did not have the right to receive counsel. Despite his denials, he remained in U.S. custody for two weeks and eventually was put on a small jet which first landed in Washington, D.C. and then in [[Amman]], [[Jordan]]. The Canadian government was notified of his rendition on October 10, 2002, and Arar was later discovered to be in the [[Far'Falastin]] detention center, near [[Damascus]], Syria.{{Fact|date=October 2007}}
===Arar's imprisonment in Syria===
Once in Amman, Arar was blindfolded, shackled and put in a van. “They made me bend my head down in the back seat,” Mr. Arar recalled. “Then these men started beating me. Every time I tried to talk, they beat me."
Arar was transferred to a prison, where he was beaten for several hours and forced to falsely confess that he had attended an Al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan. “I was willing to do anything to stop the torture,” he says.
Arar described his cell as a three-foot by six-foot “grave” with no light and plenty of rats. During the more than 10 months he was imprisoned and held in solitary confinement, he was beaten regularly with shredded cables.<ref name=ArarCommissionPg362>{{cite book|url=http://www.ararcommission.ca/eng/AR_English.pdf|format=PDF|title=Report of the Events Relating to Maher Arar: Analysis and Recommendations|isbn=0-660-19648-4|year=2006}} ''See page 362 in "Analysis and Recommendations"''.</ref> Through the walls of his cell, Mr. Arar could hear the screams of other prisoners who were also being tortured. The Syrian government shared the results of its investigation with the United States.<ref>{{cite web|title=His Year in Hell|publisher=[[CBS News]]|date=2004-01-21|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/21/48hours/main594974.shtml}}</ref> Arar believes that his torturers were given a dossier of specific questions by United States interrogators, noting that he was asked identical questions both in the United States and in Syria.<ref>{{cite web|title=Arar Dismissal|date=2006-02-16|url=http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/legal/september_11th/docs/Arar_Order_21606.pdf}}</ref>
While he had been imprisoned, Arar's wife [[Monia Mazigh]] had been conducting an active campaign in Canada to secure his release. Upon his release in October 2003, Syria announced they could find no terrorist links.<ref>{{cite web|first=Jane|last=Mayer|title=Outsourcing Torture|publisher=[[The New Yorker]]|date=2005-02-07|url=http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/050214fa_fact6?050214fa_fact6}}</ref> Syrian official Imad Moustapha stated that "We tried to find anything. We couldn’t".
===Arar's return to Canada===
Arar was released on October 5, 2003, 374 days after his removal to Syria. He returned to Canada, reuniting with his wife and children.
The couple moved to [[Kamloops]], in [[British Columbia]], where his wife Monia accepted a job as professor at [[Thompson Rivers University]].<ref>[http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/arar/ CBC News In Depth: Maher Arar<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Recently the couple has moved back to [[Ottawa]].
Back in Canada, Arar claimed that he had been tortured in Syria and sought to clear his name, embarking on legal challenges both in Canada and in the United States as well as a public education campaign.
==United States lawsuit==
In January 2004, Arar announced that he would be suing then-[[Attorney General of the United States|American Attorney-General]] [[John Ashcroft]] over his treatment.<ref name=Cbc040122>{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/01/22/ararsuit040122|title=Arar launches lawsuit against U.S. government|publisher=[[CBC News]]|date=2004-01-22}}</ref>
The [[Center for Constitutional Rights]] brought the suit ''Arar v. Ashcroft'' against former Attorney General John Ashcroft, [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI Director]] [[Robert Mueller]], and then-Secretary of Homeland Security [[Tom Ridge]], as well as numerous U.S. immigration officials. It charges the defendants violated Arar's constitutional right to [[due process]]; his right to choose a country of removal other than one in which he would be tortured, as guaranteed under the [[Torture Victims Protection Act]]; and his rights under international law.
The suit charges that Arar's [[Fifth Amendment]] due process rights were violated when he was confined without access to an attorney or the court system, both domestically before being rendered, and while detained by the Syrian government, whose actions were complicit with the U.S. Additionally, the Attorney General and INS officials who carried out his deportation also likely violated his right to due process by recklessly subjecting him to torture at the hands of a foreign government that they had every reason to believe would carry out abusive interrogation.
Further, Arar filed a claim under the Torture Victims Protection Act, adopted by the [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]] in 1992, which allows a victim of torture by an individual of a foreign government to bring suit against that actor in U.S. Court. Arar's claim under the Act against Ashcroft and the INS directors is based upon their complicity in bringing about the torture he suffered. The case was filed in the United States District Court for the [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York|Eastern District of New York]].
In the case, Arar is seeking compensatory and [[punitive damages]] and a declaration that the actions of the U.S. government were illegal and violated his constitutional, civil, and international human rights.
A year after the case was filed, the U.S. government invoked the rarely-used “[[State Secrets Privilege]]” in a [[Motion (legal)|motion to dismiss]] the suit. The government claimed that to go forward in an open court would jeopardize the United States' intelligence, foreign policy, and national security interests. Specifically, the government's invocation of the state secrets privilege asserted that disclosure of “the basis for the rejection of plaintiff’s designation of Canada as the country to which plaintiff wished to be removed”, “the basis for the decision to exclude plaintiff from this country”, and “the considerations involved in the decision to remove him to Syria” would damage national security interests<ref> {{cite news| url=http://www.fas.org/sgp/jud/statesec/index.html| title= U.S. Asserts State Secrets Privilege in Arar v. Ashcroft|date=2005-01-18| accessdate=2007-10-17}}</ref>.
On [[February 16]], [[2006]], Brooklyn District Court Judge [[David Trager]] dismissed Arar's lawsuit against members of the Bush administration,<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Render&c=Article&cid=1140130214126&call_pageid=968332188492| title=U.S. ruling dismisses Arar lawsuit|date=2006-02-17| first=Tim| last=Harper| publisher=[[Toronto Star]]| accessdate=2006-09-19}}</ref> basing his decision on national security grounds.
CCR attorneys have appealed the case to the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit|Second Circuit]] Court of Appeals. On June 30, 2008, the Appeals court upheld the dismissal <ref>{{cite court |litigants = Arar v. Ashcroft et al.|opinion = 06-4216-cv |court = United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit |date = 2007 |url= http://ccrjustice.org/files/Arar%20Court%20of%20Appeals%20Decision.pdf}}</ref>.
==Canadian government response==
The rendition of Maher Arar has received much attention and scrutiny in Canada, both in the media and in the government.
===Initial media controversy===
Arar's case reached new heights of controversy after reporter [[Juliet O'Neill]] wrote an article in the [[Ottawa Citizen]] on [[November 8]], [[2003]], containing information leaked to her from an unknown security source, possibly within the RCMP. The secret documents provided by her source suggested Arar was a trained member of an [[Al Qaeda]] terrorist cell. The RCMP later raided O'Neill's house pursuant to sealed [[search warrant]]s it had obtained to investigate the leak.<ref name=Ctv040122>{{cite web|url=http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20040122/arar_sues040121?s_name=&no_ads=|title=RCMP raids reporter's offices over Arar case|publisher=[[CTV.ca]]|date=2004-01-22}}</ref> The raid was widely denounced in the media.{{who?}}
In November 2004, [[Ontario Superior Court]] Judge Lynn Ratushny ruled that the sealing of the search warrants was unacceptable, although [[Justice of the Peace]] Richard Sculthorpe had given approval after the RCMP invoked the Security of Information Act. Justice Ratushny stated that the sealing of the search violated guarantees of a free press, freedom of expression and the public's right to an open court system. She ordered that a [[redact]]ed copy be released to the public.<ref>[http://www.injusticebusters.com/04/ONeill_Juliet.htm injusticebusters 2004 > > Juliet O'Neill: Traumatising a reporter<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> All materials that were seized were subsequently ordered returned to O'Neill after Ontario Superior Court Judge Ratushny struck down Section 4 of the Security of Information Act<ref name="soia">{{cite web |url=http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/O-5/275827.html#rid-275834 |title=Section 4 of the Security of Information Act |date=2006-09-15 |accessdate= 2006-10-26 |format= |work=Consolidated Statutes and Regulations |publisher= Department of Justice Canada}}</ref>, ruling that it was "unconstitutionally vague" and broad<ref name="MacLeod">
{{cite news
| first = Ian
| last = MacLeod
| authorlink =
| author =
| coauthors =
| title = Decision offers chance to overhaul security act
| url = http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=5f16f753-ce2a-48c3-85d3-b070889403b0&p=1
| format =
| work = The Ottawa Citizen
| publisher =
| pages =
| page =
| date = [[October 20]], [[2006]]
| accessdate = 2006-10-26
| language = EN
}}</ref> and an infringement of freedom of expression.
===Garvie Report===
On September 25, 2004, the results of an internal RCMP investigation by RCMP Chief Superintendent [[Brian Garvie]] were published. Though the version released to the public was censored, the Garvie Report documented several instances of impropriety by the RCMP in the Arar case. Among its revelations were that the RCMP was responsible for giving American authorities sensitive information on Arar with no attached provisos about how this information might be used. Also, Richard Roy, the RCMP liaison officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs, may have known of the plan of removing Arar to Syria but did not contact his supervisors. Additionally, Deputy [[Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police|RCMP Commissioner]] Garry Loeppky lobbied hard, in the spring of 2003, to convince his government (then led by [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] Prime Minister [[Jean Chrétien]]) not to claim in a letter to Syria, that it "had no evidence Arar was involved in any terrorist activities" because Arar "remained a person of great interest."
In response to the Garvie Report, Arar said that the report was "just the starting point to find out the truth about what happened to me" and that it "exposes the fact that the government was misleading the public when they said Canada had nothing to do with sending me to Syria."
===Canadian Commission of Inquiry===
On February 5, 2004, the Canadian government established the "Commission Of Inquiry Into The Actions of Canadian Officials In Relation to Maher Arar" to investigate and report on the actions of Canadian officials. The United States refused to participate in the inquiry and, until January 2007, refused to share its own evidence with Canadian officials.
On June 14, 2005, [[Franco Pillarella]], Canadian ambassador to Syria at the time of Arar's removal, said that at the time he had no reason to believe Arar had been badly treated, and in general had no reason to conclusively believe that Syria engaged in routine torture. These statements prompted widespread incredulity in the Canadian media, and a former Canadian UN ambassador responded to Pillarella asserting that Syria's human rights abuses were well known and well documented by many sources.
On September 14, 2005, the O'Connor commission concluded public hearings after testimony from 85 witnesses. Maher Arar did not testify before the commission.<ref name="Arar Inquiry Press Release Sept. 6, 2007">{{cite web|publisher=Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar]|url=http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/206/301/pco-bcp/commissions/maher_arar/07-09-13/www.ararcommission.ca/eng/PressReleaseFinal_sept-06-2007.pdf|format=PDF|title=Maher Arar will not testify before the Commission of Inquiry|date=2007-09-06}}</ref><ref name="WS20070226"/> The U.S. ambassador at the time of the incident, [[Paul Cellucci]], refused to testify.
On October 27, 2005, Professor [[Stephen Toope]], a fact-finder appointed by the Arar inquiry released a report saying that he believed Arar was tortured in Syria. He said that Arar had recovered well physically but was still suffering from psychological problems caused by his mistreatment, as well as anxiety caused by the Commission of Inquiry process itself.<ref name="ArarCommission">{{cite book|url=http://www.ararcommission.ca/eng/AR_English.pdf|format=PDF|title=Report of the Events Relating to Maher Arar: Analysis and Recommendations|isbn=0-660-19648-4|year=2006}}</ref>
On September 18, 2006, the Canadian Commission of Inquiry, led by [[Dennis O'Connor (judge)|Dennis O'Connor]], Associate [[Ontario Court of Appeal|Chief Justice of Ontario]], issued its report. The final report exonerates Arar and categorically states that there is no evidence linking Arar to terrorist activity, stating “there is no evidence to indicate that Mr. Arar has committed any offence or that his activities constitute a threat to the security of Canada.” The Commission also found no evidence that Canadian officials acquiesced in the U.S. decision to detain and remove Mr. Arar to Syria, but that it is very likely that the U.S. relied on inaccurate and unfair information about Mr. Arar that was provided by Canadian officials. The report also confirms that he was tortured while in Syria.<ref name="ArarCommission" /><ref name=ArarCommissionVolI>{{cite book|url=http://www.ararcommission.ca/eng/Vol_I_English.pdf|format=PDF|title=Report of the Events Relating to Maher Arar: Factual Background Volume I|isbn=0-660-19648-4|year=2006}}</ref><ref name=ArarCommissionVolII>{{cite book|url=http://www.ararcommission.ca/eng/Vol_II_English.pdf|format=PDF|title=Report of the Events Relating to Maher Arar: Factual Background Volume II|isbn=0-660-19648-4|year=2006}}</ref>
On August 9, 2007, an addendum to the final report containing previously undisclosed portions was released. The final report was released with certain portions blacked out for reasons of national security by the Canadian government. Under the rules for the Inquiry, the decision to release the remaining portions of the final report were to be decided within the Canadian courts. In July 2007, the Federal Court ruled that portions of the previously removed text could be released.<ref name=AddendumArarCommissionReport>{{cite book|url=http://www.ararcommission.ca/eng/AR_English.pdf|format=PDF|title=Addendum to Report of the Events Relating to Maher Arar: Volume I, II, and Analysis and Recommendations|isbn=0-660-19648-4|year=2006}}</ref>
===RCMP apology===
On [[September 28]], [[2006]], RCMP Commissioner [[Giuliano Zaccardelli]] issued a carefully worded public apology to Arar and his family during the House of Commons committee on public safety and national security:
<blockquote>Mr. Arar, I wish to take this opportunity to express publicly to you and to your wife and to your children how truly sorry I am for whatever part the actions of the RCMP may have contributed to the terrible injustices that you experienced and the pain that you and your family endured.<ref name=Cbc060928>{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/09/28/zaccardelli-appearance.html|title=RCMP chief apologizes to Arar for 'terrible injustices'|publisher=[[CBC News]]|date=2006-09-28}}</ref></blockquote>
Arar thanked Commissioner Zaccardelli for his apology but lamented the lack of concrete disciplinary action against those individuals whose actions led to his detention and subsequent torture.<ref name=Cbc060929>{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/09/29/arar-rcmp.html|title=Arar thanks RCMP chief for apology|publisher=[[CBC News]]|date=2006-09-29}}</ref> Zaccardelli later resigned as RCMP commissioner because of this case.
===Canadian government apology and settlement===
On January 26, 2007, after months of negotiations between the Canadian government and Arar's Canadian [[Lawyer|legal counsel]], Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a formal apology to Arar on behalf of the Canadian government and announced that Arar would receive $10.5 million settlement for his ordeal and an additional $1 million for [[Law of costs|legal costs]].<ref name="settlement20070126">{{cite news|url=http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/War_Terror/2007/01/26/3453332-cp.html|title=Harper announces $11.5M compensation for Arar|publisher=Canoe News|date=[[26 January]] [[2007]]|accessdate=2007-01-26}}</ref>
On January 26, 2007, Harper released a copy of a letter sent to Arar, apologizing "for any role Canadian officials may have played in what happened to Mr. Arar, Monia Mazigh and their family in 2002 and 2003."<ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[Canadian Prime Minister's Office|Office of the Prime Minister]]|url=http://news.gc.ca/cfmx/view/en/index.jsp?articleid=270739&|title=Prime Minister Releases Letter of Apology to Maher Arar and his Family and Announces Completion of Mediation Process|date=2007-01-26}}</ref>
===Aftermath===
In Canada, Arar's ordeal has raised numerous questions that have yet to be answered. Canadian authorities have been unable to discover who leaked sensitive government documents to O'Neill. Those who were involved in the case in the RCMP have not been reprimanded by the government for their mistakes. In fact, several have received promotions.<ref>{{cite web|first=Philip|last=Fernandez|title="Lack of Accountability Unacceptable|url=http://www.maherarar.ca/have%20your%20say%20more.php?id=606_0_28_0_M|accessdate=2007-08-23|publisher=maherarar.ca}}</ref>
As of December 2006, the only person held accountable in Canada has been RCMP Commissioner [[Giuliano Zaccardelli]], who actually resigned over contradictions in his testimony to the House of Commons Committee on Public Safety and National Security. The contradictions were with respect to what he knew at the time and what he told government ministers.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/12/06/zaccardelli.html|title=RCMP's embattled chief quits over Arar testimony|publisher=CBC News|date=[[6 December]] [[2006]]|accessdate=2006-12-06}}</ref>
Many commentators and Liberal MPs also dog Harper's government with statements made by its members while they were the official opposition in the House of Commons. Several Conservative party members, including Canadian Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, apparently assumed Arar's guilt, labeling him a terrorist.<ref>{{cite web|title=Lingering suspicion about Arar troubling|publisher=[[Toronto Star]]|date=2007-01-27|first=James|last=Travers|url=http://www.thestar.com/News/article/175413}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Opposition quotes on Arar from November 2002|publisher=[[CTV.ca]]|author=[[Canadian Press]]|date=2007-01-26|url=http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070126/arar_quotes_070126?s_name=&no_ads=}}</ref>
==U.S. government response==
The Bush administration continues to maintain that Arar's rendition to Syria was legal and well within its right.<ref name=Ctv061211>{{cite web|url=http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061211/arar_rendition_061211?s_name=&no_ads=|title=Extraordinary rendition may be legal: documents|publisher=[[CTV.ca]]|date=2006-12-11|author=[[Canadian Press]]}}</ref> The government has not publicly acknowledged that Arar was tortured in Syria. Former [[United States Attorney General]] [[Alberto Gonzales]] stated that he had seen no evidence other than Arar's own account that he was tortured {{Fact|2008-02-15|date=February 2008}}.
===Former U.S. Attorney General Gonzales's response to the Arar inquiry===
On September 19, 2006, then-U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales denied any wrongdoing on the part of the U.S. in Arar's rendition to Syria.<ref name=TheJurist060920>{{cite web|url=http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/09/gonzales-defends-arar-deportation.php|title=Gonzales defends Arar deportation after Canadian inquiry report|first=Joshua|last=Pantesco|publisher=[[The Jurist]]|date=2006-09-20}}</ref>
During a press conference Gonzales said:<ref name=DoJ060919>{{cite web|url=http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/speeches/2006/ag_speech_0609191.html|title=Transcript of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras at Press Conference Announcing Identity Theft Task Force Interim Recommendations|publisher=[[United States Department of Justice|Department of Justice]]|date=2006-09-19}}</ref>
<blockquote>"Well, we were not responsible for his removal to Syria, I'm not aware that he was tortured, and I haven't read the Commission report. Mr. Arar was deported under our [[Nationality law|immigration laws]]. He was initially detained because his name appeared on terrorist lists, and he was deported according to our laws.
"Some people have characterized his removal as a rendition. That is not what happened here. It was a deportation. And even if it were a rendition, we understand as a government what our obligations are with respect to anyone who is rendered by this government to another country, and that is that we seek to satisfy ourselves that they will not be tortured. And we do that in every case. And if in fact he had been rendered to Syria, we would have sought those same kind of assurances, as we do in every case."</blockquote>
On September 20, 2006, [[Charles Miller]], a [[United States Department of Justice|Department of Justice]] spokesman, said Gonzales had merely been trying to clarify that deportations were no longer the responsibility of the Department of Justice, but were now the responsibility of the [[United States Department of Homeland Security|Department of Homeland Security]].<ref name=TheJurist060921>{{cite web|first=Holly|last=Manges Jones|url=http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/09/doj-retreats-from-gonzales-disavowal.php|title=DOJ retreats from Gonzales disavowal of responsibility for Arar deportation|publisher=[[The Jurist]]|date=2006-09-21}}</ref>
===Watchlist issue===
Despite the inquiry's exoneration of Arar, the United States has also refused to remove Arar from its watchlist. [[Stockwell Day]] was invited to look at the evidence in the United States' possession in January 2007. In his opinion, the administration is unjustified in continuing to bar Arar from entering the United States. Reportedly, the United States continues to refuse to remove Arar from the watchlist because of "his personal associations and travel history".<ref>{{cite web|title=U.S. refuses to take Arar off watch list|date=2007-01-26|publisher=[[CBC News]]|url=http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/01/26/arar-us.html}}</ref>
Following Day's efforts to remove Arar from the watchlist, U.S. Ambassador to Canada [[David Wilkins]] chided Canada for questioning whom the United States can and cannot allow into their country.<ref>{{cite web|title=Wilkins slams Day for questioning U.S. on Arar|date=2007-01-24|publisher=[[CBC News]]|url=http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/01/24/us-arar.html}}</ref> Notwithstanding, [[Prime Minister]] [[Stephen Harper]] has vowed to continue to press the United States on this matter. On January 26, 2007, Harper rebuked Wilkins with respect to the Canadian government's efforts to remove him from the U.S. watch list, stating, "Canada has every right to go to bat for one of its citizens when the government believes a Canadian is being unfairly treated."<ref>{{cite web|title=U.S. refuses to take Arar off watch list|date=2007-01-26|url=http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/01/26/arar-us.html|publisher=[[CBC News]]}}</ref>
On [[October 20]], 2007, ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'' reported that it had seen classified American documents revealing evidence on which the United States acted: "Maher Arar's denials that he ever went to Afghanistan are contradicted by a man convicted of immigration fraud and a self-confessed ''mujahedeen'' instructor who says he spotted him there in the early 1990s...." <ref>{{Citation| last =Freeze| first =Colin | title =Why U.S. won't remove Arar from no-fly list| newspaper =[[The Globe and Mail]]| year =2007| date =[[October 20]], 2007|url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071019.Arar20/BNStory/International/home }}</ref> The newspaper stated that the informant, Mohamed Kamal Elzahabi, also faced charges of lying to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], and that "his credibility is very much at issue." It added that, even crediting his description of his acquaintance with Arar, "the encounter appears to have been, at most, fleeting."
===U.S. Congressional Hearings and Testimony===
Meanwhile, in the United States, Senator [[Patrick Leahy]], chairman of the [[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|Senate Judiciary Committee]], has threatened to hold extensive hearings into Arar's case. Leahy has lambasted the US's removal of Arar to Syria as absurd and outrageous, noting that instead of sending Arar a "couple of hundred miles to Canada and turned over to the Canadian authorities... he was sent thousands of miles away to Syria." Senator Leahy spoke at length on the matter, calling the case "a black mark" on the United States: "We knew damn well, if he went to Canada, he wouldn't be tortured. He'd be held. He'd be investigated. We also knew damn well, if he went to Syria, he'd be tortured. And it's beneath the dignity of this country, a country that has always been a beacon of human rights, to send somebody to another country to be tortured."<ref>{{cite news|title=Transcript of Gonzales-Leahy exchange on Arar|publisher=[[Toronto Star]]|date=2007-01-18|url=http://www.thestar.com/News/article/172671}}</ref>
Former [[Attorney General]] [[Alberto Gonzales]] noted that the United States had assurances from Syria that Arar would not be tortured. This was dismissed by Leahy, remarking that the United States got "assurances from a country that we also say, now, we can't talk to them because we can't take their word for anything?" The Senator was alluding to the Bush administration's policy of refraining from talking to Iran and Syria. Syria is on the U.S. State Department's list of states that sponsor terrorism.
On October 18, 2007, Arar spoke via video-link before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight, and the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at a hearing that is examining his case and the practice of rendition. In his statement to the committee, he detailed his experiences and expressed his hope that his case will not be repeated. “I now understand how fragile our human rights and freedoms are, and how easily they can be taken from us by the very same governments and institutions that have sworn to protect us. I also know that the only way I will ever be able to move on in my life and have a future is if I can find out why this happened to me, and help prevent it from happening to others.<ref>|url=http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3746371&page=1}}</ref>
Members of Congress took the opportunity to personally apologize to Arar. Bill Delahunt, a Massachusetts Democrat, commented on the United States government’s inaction, saying, “Let me personally give you what our government has not: an apology”. “Let me apologize to you and the Canadian people”, he continued, “for our government's role in a mistake.”<ref>|url=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1153AP_Torture_Rendition.html}}</ref>
Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican, agreed that lawmakers “should be ashamed” of the case, but defended the practice of rendition, claiming that it has “protected the lives of hundreds of thousands if not millions of American lives.”<ref>|url=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1153AP_Torture_Rendition.html}}</ref>Michigan Democrat John Conyers took the opportunity to challenge rendition, and stated that his “intention” is “for high level administration officials responsible for the Arar decision to come before these panels and tell the American people the truth about what happened.” “This government is sending people to other countries to be tortured,” Conyers said.<ref>{{cite news|title=Transcript of Gonzales-Leahy exchange on Arar|publisher=[[ABC News]]|date=2007-10-18|url=http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/Story?id=3746371&page=1}}</ref>
On October 24, 2007 U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, while testifying in Washington before the House of Representatives foreign affairs committee, admitted for the first time that the 2002 deportation of Arar to a Syrian jail was not handled properly, but she did not offer an apology. "We have told the Canadian government we do not think this was handled particularly well … and we will try to do better in the future," Rice said while testifying before the House of Representatives foreign affairs committee. <ref>”U.S. handling of Arar case ‘by no means perfect’: Rice”,CBC news, October 24, 2007,[http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/10/24/rice-arar.html]</ref>
On June 5, 2008, a joint hearing entitled "U.S. Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Report OIG-08-18: ''The Removal of a Canadian Citizen to Syria''" was held by the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties and the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight<ref>[http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/hearing_notice.asp?id=999 Hearing Notice]</ref>[http://judiciary.edgeboss.net/real/judiciary/constitution/constit060508.smi video]. A redacted copy of the Department of Homeland Security report was released <ref>"The Removal of a Canadian Citizen to Syria",[http://www.house.gov/delahunt/ararreport.pdf]</ref>
On June 10, 2008, a hearing about diplomatic assurances was held by the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight. In his opening statement Rep. [[Bill Delahunt]] cited the case of Maher Arar and the ambiguousness of assurance received from Syria. It appears that when Mr. Arar was removed, the State Department was not consulted when assurances that Mr. Arar would not be tortured were obtained. The sole witness was John B. Bellinger III, the legal advisor of the U.S. State Department (previously White House Senior Associate Counsel to the President and Legal Adviser to the National Security Council). Mr. Bellinger has previously spoken on the Arar case.
In a letter dated June 10, 2008, US Representatives John Conyers, Jr., Jerrold Nadler, and Bill Delahunt requested of the Attorney General the appointment of a "special counsel to investigate and prosecute any violation of federal criminal laws related to the removal of Canadian citizen, Maher Arar, to Syria."<ref>[http://ccrjustice.org/files/Conyers-Nadler-Delahunt.pdf]</ref> As of yet, there has been no public response from either the Attorney General nor the Department of Justice.
===Dispute over Canadian involvement in his rendition===
After Arar's release, the controversy continued over his treatment by the U.S. and over the role that Canadian police and government officials may have played in his removal and interrogation. The United States claimed that the RCMP had provided them with a list of suspicious persons that included Arar.<ref name=GlobeAndMail031108>{{cite news|author=Jeff Sallot, Colin Freeze|url=http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20031108.warar0811/BNStory/Front/|title=RCMP passed along Arar's name, U.S. says|publisher=[[Globe and Mail]]|date=2003-11-08|archivedate=2003-12-07|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20031207100454/http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20031108.warar0811/BNStory/Front/}}</ref>
It was also discovered that Canadian consular officials knew that Arar was in custody in the United States but did not believe that he would be removed. The Canadian government maintains that the decision to remove Arar to Syria was made by American officials alone.
Canadian officials apparently told U.S. officials Arar was no longer a resident of Canada. ''The New York Times'' reported, "In July 2002, the Mounted Police learned that Mr. Arar and his family
were in Tunisia, and incorrectly concluded that they had left Canada
permanently." <ref>{{cite web|first=Ian|last=Austen|url=http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0919-05.htm|title=Canadians Fault U.S. for Its Role in Torture Case|publisher=[[New York Times]]|date=2006-09-19|page=A1}}</ref>
At a [[Summit (meeting)|summit meeting]] in [[Monterrey|Monterrey, Mexico]], on January 13, 2004, former [[Prime Minister of Canada|Canadian Prime Minister]] [[Paul Martin]] and [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[George W. Bush]] reached an agreement, sometimes referred to as the [[Monterrey Accord]], which obliged the United States to notify Canada before deporting a Canadian citizen to a third country. However, according to a news story in the Toronto ''Globe and Mail'', Stephen Yale-Loehr, lawyer and [[Professor|adjunct professor]] of immigration and asylum law at [[Cornell University]] told the Arar inquiry "the Canada-U.S. agreement struck... to prevent a recurrence of the Arar affair is ineffective and legally unenforceable."<ref>{{cite journal| url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050608/ARAR08/TPNational/Canada| journal=The Globe and Mail| title=Deportation pact useless, inquiry told| first=Michael Den| last= Tandt|date=2005-06-08| pages=A10| accessdate=2006-09-19}}</ref>
In 2007, as part of the investigation into government foreknowledge, it was revealed that CSIS chief [[Jack Hooper]] had sent a memo on [[October 10]], 2002 that included the reference "''I think the United States would like to get Arar to Jordan where they can have their way with him"'', which was the first conclusive evidence that CSIS, and not just the RCMP, knew that a Canadian was going to be tortured at the request of the United States.<ref>{{cite web|author=[[Canadian Press]]|date=2007-08-18|title=CSIS Suspected Arar Could Face Torture: Documents|publisher=metronews.ca|url=http://www.metronews.ca/story.aspx?id=67950}}</ref> A year later, Hooper contacted the [[Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (Canada)|Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade]] to tell them that it was not in Canada's interests to demand that the United States return Maher Arar.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehilltimes.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=/2006/october/2/csis/&c=1|accessdate=2007-08-21|title=CSIS didn't want Arar returned to Canada|date=2006-10-02|first=Simon|last=Doyle|publisher=[[The Hill Times]]}}</ref>
===Canada's formal protest to the U.S. government===
During a telephone conversation on October 6, 2006, Harper notified President Bush that Canada intended to lodge a formal protest over U.S. treatment of Arar. The notification was later followed by a [[Letter of Protest|letter of protest]] sent from [[Minister of Foreign Affairs (Canada)|Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs]] [[Peter MacKay]] to [[United States Secretary of State|U.S. Secretary of State]] [[Condoleezza Rice]].<ref name=TheJurist061006>{{cite web|first=Caitlin |last=Price|url=http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/10/canada-makes-formal-protest-of-us-arar.php|title=Canada makes formal protest of US Arar treatment|publisher=[[The Jurist]]|date=2006-10-07}}</ref> Harper told reporters that Canada wants "the United States government [to] come clean with its version of events, to acknowledge... the deficiencies and inappropriate conduct that occurred in this case, particularly vis-à-vis its relationship with the Canadian government." In particular, Canada wants United States assurances, said Harper, that "these kinds of incidents will not be repeated in the future."<ref name=Cbc061005>{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/10/06/harper-bush.html|title='Come clean' on Arar, Harper asks U.S.|publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]]|date=2006-10-05}}</ref>
===U.S. embassy statements===
[[Robert H. Tuttle]], the US [[United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom|ambassador to Britain]] told the [[BBC]] on December 22, 2005:
<blockquote>
"I don't think there is any evidence that there have been any renditions carried out in the country of Syria. There is no evidence of that. And I think we have to take what the secretary [[Condoleezza Rice]] says at face value. It is something very important, it is done very carefully and she has said we do not authorise, condone torture in any way, shape or form."
</blockquote>
This statement was amended the very next day by a U.S. embassy spokeswoman who stated that the embassy <blockquote>
"recognised that there had been a media report of a rendition to Syria but reiterated that the United States is not in a position to comment on specific allegations of intelligence activities that appear in the press". <ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1673958,00.html|title=US embassy close to admitting Syria rendition flight|publisher=[[The Guardian]]|date=2006-12-27|first=Ewen|last=MacAskill}}</ref>
</blockquote>
==Miscellaneous facts==
*Arar's wife, [[Monia Mazigh]], ran unsuccessfully as the NDP candidate in the [[Ottawa South]] [[electoral district (Canada)|riding]] in the [[Canadian federal election, 2004|2004 federal election]].
*[[TIME|TIME magazine]] chose Arar as "[[Canadian Newsmaker of the Year (Time)|Canadian Newsmaker of the Year]]" for 2004.
*On October 18, 2006, Arar and the [[Center for Constitutional Rights]] were honoured with the [[Institute for Policy Studies]] [[Orlando Letelier|Letelier-Moffitt]] [[Human Rights]] Award, in recognition of the struggle to clear his name and draw attention to American abuses of human rights in dealing with terrorist suspects.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ips-dc.org/lm-awards/2006/|title=International Award: Maher Arar and the Center for Constitutional Rights|publisher=30th Annual Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Awards|date=2006-10-18}}</ref>
*[[Jimmy Carter]], former President of the United States, discusses Arar sympathetically in his bestselling 2005 book ''Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis''.
*[[Amy Goodman]], host of the radio program ''[[Democracy Now!]]'', and her brother [[David Goodman]] write about Arar in their 2006 book, ''Static''.
*In April of 2007, TIME magazine named Arar to the TIME 100, its annual listing of 100 influential people in the world.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/time100/article/0,28804,1595326_1615754_1616006,00.html|title=The TIME 100:Maher Arar|last=Leahy|first=Patrick|authorlink=Patrick Leahy|year=2007|month=04|publisher=[[TIME]]|accessdate=2007-05-07}}</ref> Arar's entry, at No. 58 in the Heroes & Pioneers category, was written by [[United States Senate|US Senator]] [[Patrick Leahy|Leahy]] and says his case "stands as a sad example of how we have been too willing to sacrifice our core principles to overarching government power in the name of security, when doing so only undermines the principles we stand for and makes us less safe." The US would not allow him entry to attend Time's recognition event.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=54c8383c-6315-43c4-ac9c-ddbf2fff7167&k=97087|title=Arar on Time's '100 most influential' list, but he's still not welcome in U.S.|first=Andrew|last=Duffy|publisher=[[National Post]]|date=2007-05-04}}</ref>
==In fiction==
*The movie ''[[Rendition (film)|Rendition]]'' is loosely based on Arar.
==See also==
The following Canadian citizens have been sent to prisons in other countries under circumstances similar to Arar:
*[[Abdullah Almalki]]
*[[Arwad al-Boushi]]
*[[Ahmad Abou El-Maati]]
*[[Bashir Makhtal]]
*[[Muayyed Nureddin]]
==References==
{{reflist|2}}
== External links ==
===General===
*[http://www.maherarar.ca/ Maher Arar's official site]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ufVGyHb0Gc Video of interview with Maher Arar]
*[http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/arar/ "Maher Arar: Timeline"], ''[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]]'', updated [[September 28]], [[2006]]
*[http://www.ararcommission.ca/ Arar Commission] official site
*[http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?category=1&id=1509 Apology Statement] Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, September 26, 2007
*[http://yannone.blogspot.com/2006/12/this-is-america-we-have-become.html/ "The Horrors of Extraordinary Rendition"], A transcript of Maher Arar's Letelier-Moffitt International Human Rights Award acceptance speech, detailing the events.
*[http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/legal/september_11th/sept11Article.asp?ObjID=zPvu7s2XVJ&Content=377 Legal Filings in Maher Arar's lawsuit against John Ashcroft] From the Center for Constitutional Rights
*[http://www.disappearedinamerica.org/audio/ Interview] with Arar on the [http://www.disappearedinamerica.org/ Disappeared In America] website
*[http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003265144_wdig19.html Falsehoods led to man's torture, report says]
*[http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1027-23.htm Transcript] and [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3403070853610915613&hl=en video] of Maher Arar's acceptance speech for the [http://www.ips-dc.org/lm-awards/2006 Letelier-Moffitt International Human Rights Award].
*[http://www.ararcommission.ca/eng/2007-08-08-addendum.pdf Declassified Report on the Events Relating to Maher Arar]
===News coverage===
{{Wikinews|U.S. flight logs back Maher Arar's claims, The New York Times finds}}
{{wikinews|Canadian government apologizes to deportation victim Arar}}
*[http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/9264400.htm Explanation offered for his Detention]
*[http://montreal.cbc.ca/template/servlet/View?filename=mtldeport021017 CBC News early report]
*[http://montreal.cbc.ca/template/servlet/View?filename=deport021016 CBC News report]
*[http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/10/05/arar031005 CBC - Maher Arar reported freed]
*[http://www.cpc-cpp.gc.ca/DefaultSite/Whatsnew/index_e.aspx?ArticleID=467 Canada starts an investigation]
*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/tv/third_degree/stars_stripes_interview.shtml BBC - Interview with Robert Baer about the role of the CIA in the Middle East]
===Commentary===
*[http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumy/2006/09/arar-report-us-should-follow-canadas.php The Arar Report: The US Should Follow Canada's Lead], [[JURIST]], [[September 27]], [[2006]]
*[http://pierretristam.com/Bobst/07/cn012607.htm Kafka in Canada: The Hounding of Maher Arar], [[Candide's Notebooks]], [[January 26]], [[2007]]
{{CanadianTerrorism}}
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[[Category:Canadian engineers]]
[[Category:Electronics engineers]]
[[Category:Canadians deported]]
[[Category:Canadians of Arab descent]]
[[Category:McGill University alumni]]
[[Category:Public inquiries]]
[[Category:Canadian Muslims]]
[[Category:People from Ottawa]]
[[Category:Canadian extrajudicial prisoners of the United States]]
[[Category:1970 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Syrian immigrants to Canada]]
[[Category:Wrongly accused terrorism suspects]]
[[Category:Victims of the extraordinary rendition program]]
[[Category:Canadian torture victims]]
[[Category:Syrian torture victims]]
[[Category:Canadians imprisoned abroad]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of Syria]]
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