Maher Arar (born 1970), a telecommunications engineer, lives in Canada, holding dual Syrian and Canadian citizenship. Year 1970 ( MCMLXX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية He was deported to Syria and tortured, in an apparent example of the United States policy of "extraordinary rendition". ^[1][2][3][4]

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. John F Kennedy International Airport is an International airport located in Queens County on Long Island in southeastern New York City about 12 miles (19 He was held in solitary confinement in the U. Solitary confinement, colloquially referred to in American English as "the hole" or "the pound" (or in British English "the block" is a Punishment 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. Al-Qaeda, alternatively spelled al-Qaida, al-Qa`ida or al-Qa`idah, ( Arabic:; ar-Latn ''al-qāʿidah'' Translation: The ^[5] 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. ^[6]

The Canadian government had concluded that he was tortured based upon unsworn interviews with Arar and others. ^[7] Standards set down by the Istanbul Protocol for determining the effects of torture were not used. The Manual on Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, commonly known as the Istanbul Protocol, is ^[8] Nevertheless, the Canadian government has publicly cleared Arar of any links to terrorism, and gave him a $10. 5 million Canadian dollar settlement. ^[9] 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 continues to have both him and his family on a watchlist. His U. S. attorneys at the Center for Constitutional Rights are currently pursuing his case, Arar v. The Center for Constitutional Rights ( CCR) is a non-profit legal advocacy organization based in New York City, New York, U Ashcroft, which seeks compensatory damages on Arar’s behalf and also a declaration that the actions of the U. In Law, damages refers to the money paid or awarded to a Claimant (England Pursuer (Scotland or Plaintiff (US following a successful 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.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Project A-O Canada and the events leading up to Arar's rendition 1.3 Arar's rendition 1.4 U.S. interrogation 1.5 Arar's imprisonment in Syria 1.6 Arar's return to Canada 2 United States lawsuit 3 Canadian government response 3.1 Initial media controversy 3.2 Garvie Report 3.3 Canadian Commission of Inquiry 3.4 RCMP apology 3.5 Canadian government apology and settlement 3.6 Aftermath 4 U.S. government response 4.1 Former U.S. Attorney General Gonzales's response to the Arar inquiry 4.2 Watchlist issue 4.3 U.S. Congressional Hearings and Testimony 4.4 Dispute over Canadian involvement in his rendition 4.5 Canada's formal protest to the U.S. government 4.6 U.S. embassy statements 5 Miscellaneous facts 6 In fiction 7 See also 8 References 9 External links 9.1 General 9.2 News coverage 9.3 Commentary

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 mandatory military service. Conscription (also known as the draft, the call-up or national service) is a general term for involuntary labor demanded by some established authority In 1991, Arar became a Canadian citizen. Canadian citizenship is typically obtained by birth in Canada or birth abroad when at least one parent is a Canadian citizen or by adoption abroad by at least one Canadian citizen ^[10]

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. Computer engineering (or Computer Systems Engineering) encompasses broad areas of both Electrical engineering and Computer science. The Institut national de la recherche scientifique (French National Institute of Scientific Research) is the research-oriented branch of Université du Québec The Université du Québec is a system of ten provincially-run public universities in Quebec, Canada. Montreal, or Montréal in French ( pronounced in French, in English) is the largest city in the Canadian province of Quebec While studying at McGill University, Arar met Monia Mazigh. Monia Mazigh (منية مازيغ is a Canadian academic best known for her efforts to free her husband Maher Arar from a Syrian prison Arar and Mazigh married in 1994. Ms. Mazigh has a Ph.D. in finance from McGill. "PhD" redirects here for other uses see PhD (disambiguation. The field of finance refers to the concepts of Time, Money and Risk and how they are interrelated They have two young children: Barâa and Houd. ^[11]

In December 1997, Arar moved with his family to Ottawa from Montreal and listed Abdullah Almalki as his "emergency contact" with his landlord. Year 1997 ( MCMXCVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar Ottawa (ˈɒtəwə or sometimes /ˈɒtəwɑː/ is the Capital of Canada and the country's fourth largest municipality. Abdullah Almalki (born 1971 is a Syrian - Canadian engineer who was imprisoned for two years in a Syrian jail ^[12] In 1999, he moved again to Boston to work for The MathWorks Inc. Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar) The MathWorks, Inc is a privately held mid-size multi-national Corporation which specializes in technical computing software. , a job that required a considerable amount of travel within the United States. ^[13] In 2001, Arar returned to Ottawa to start his own consulting company, Simcomms Inc. Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. 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. Abdullah Almalki (born 1971 is a Syrian - Canadian engineer who was imprisoned for two years in a Syrian jail 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. Shawarma (شاورما or שווארמה also spelled Chawarma, Schawarma, Shwarma, Shuarma, Shawerma, Shoarma, ^[14]

At the time their movements were under close scrutiny by at least three police surveillance teams. ^[14] 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. Founded in 2001 Project O Canada was a Toronto-based anti-terrorism investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Founded in 2001 Project O Canada was a Toronto-based anti-terrorism investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. 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. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service ( CSIS) (Service canadien du renseignement de sécurité ( SCRS) is the primary Intelligence agency of the National security is the entire scope of measures undertaken by the Governments of Nation-states in providing assurance of national Sovereignty 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. An Egyptian Canadian Aid worker and patriarch of the Khadr family, Ahmed Said Khadr (أحمد سعيد خضر (March 1 1948 – October 2 Osama bin Laden, with some spelling variations is the name used in English to refer to (أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن born 10 March 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. " Person of interest " is a phrase used by law enforcement when announcing the name of someone involved in a Criminal investigation who has not yet been Arrested Nonetheless, Mr. Almalki's meeting with Arar appears to have prompted a wider investigation, with Arar also becoming a "person of interest. "^[14]

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 City of New York The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service ( INS) was a part of the United States Department of Justice and handled legal and illegal Immigration The INS was acting upon information supplied by the RCMP. ^[15] 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. A Canadian passport is an official document issued to citizens of Canada for the purpose of international travel allowing the bearer to travel in foreign countries in accordance Canadian (initially) and American officials have labelled his transfer to Syria as a deportation, but critics have called the removal an example of rendition for torture by proxy, as Syria's government is infamous for its torture of detainees. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the In Law, rendition is a "surrender" or "handing over" of Persons or Property, particularly from one Jurisdiction to another

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. 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. Abdullah Almalki (born 1971 is a Syrian - Canadian engineer who was imprisoned for two years in a Syrian jail 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 U.S. citizen, therefore he did not have the right to receive counsel. Article I section 8 clause 4 of the United States Constitution expressly gives the United States Congress the power to establish a uniform rule of naturalization 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. Amman (ɑˈmɑːn sometimes spelled Ammann ( Arabic عمان ʿAmmān) is the Capital city of the Hashemite Kingdom Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (الأردنّ al-Urdunn) is an Arab country in Southwest Asia spanning the southern 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. Far' Falastin ( فرع فلسطين) is a notorious Syrian prison located near Damascus. Damascus ( دمشق,, also commonly known as الشام ash-Shām) is the capital and largest city of Syria.

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. ^[16] 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. ^[17] 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. ^[18]

While he had been imprisoned, Arar's wife Monia Mazigh had been conducting an active campaign in Canada to secure his release. Monia Mazigh (منية مازيغ is a Canadian academic best known for her efforts to free her husband Maher Arar from a Syrian prison Upon his release in October 2003, Syria announced they could find no terrorist links. ^[19] 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. Kamloops is a city in south central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the two branches of the Thompson British Columbia (ˌbrɪtɨʃ kəˈlʌmbiə ( BC) ( (la Colombie-Britannique C Thompson Rivers University has its main campus in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada and a second campus in Williams Lake. ^[20] Recently the couple has moved back to Ottawa. Ottawa (ˈɒtəwə or sometimes /ˈɒtəwɑː/ is the Capital of Canada and the country's fourth largest municipality.

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-American Attorney-General John Ashcroft over his treatment. January 2004: &larr - January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice (see) concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement John David Ashcroft (born May 9 1942) is an American Politician who was the 79th United States Attorney General. ^[21]

The Center for Constitutional Rights brought the suit Arar v. The Center for Constitutional Rights ( CCR) is a non-profit legal advocacy organization based in New York City, New York, U Ashcroft against former Attorney General John Ashcroft, FBI Director Robert Mueller, and then-Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, as well as numerous U. Robert Swan Mueller III (born August 7 1944 is the current Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. Thomas Joseph Ridge (born August 26 1945) is an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives (1983&ndash1995 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. Due process (more fully due process of law) is the principle that a person has a right to receive notice and be heard in an orderly proceeding in order to protect his or her The Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991 (TVPA 106 Stat 73 (1992 is a statute that allows for the filing of civil suits in the United States, against individuals who

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 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. The United States Congress is the bicameral Legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of two houses 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 Eastern District of New York. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York is the federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the entirety of Long Island

In the case, Arar is seeking compensatory and punitive damages and a declaration that the actions of the U. Punitive damages (termed exemplary damages in the United Kingdom) are Damages not awarded in order to compensate the Plaintiff, but in order 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 to dismiss the suit. The State Secrets Privilege is an evidentiary rule created by United States legal Precedent. A legal motion is a procedural device in Law to bring a limited contested matter before a Court for decision 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^[22].

On February 16, 2006, Brooklyn District Court Judge David Trager dismissed Arar's lawsuit against members of the Bush administration,^[23] basing his decision on national security grounds. Events 1249 - Andrew of Longjumeau is dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with the Khan of the Mongols Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.

CCR attorneys have appealed the case to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals.

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. Juliet O'Neill is a Canadian journalist who was the subject of controversy when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police raided her house in an attempt to find the source The Ottawa Citizen is an English -language daily newspaper owned by CanWest Global in Ottawa, Canada. Events 1519 - Hernán Cortés enters Tenochtitlán and Aztec ruler Moctezuma welcomes him with great a Celebration Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. The secret documents provided by her source suggested Arar was a trained member of an Al Qaeda terrorist cell. Al-Qaeda, alternatively spelled al-Qaida, al-Qa`ida or al-Qa`idah, ( Arabic:; ar-Latn ''al-qāʿidah'' Translation: The The RCMP later raided O'Neill's house pursuant to sealed search warrants it had obtained to investigate the leak. A search warrant is a Court order issued by a Judge or Magistrate that authorizes law enforcement to conduct a Search ^[24] The raid was widely denounced in the media.

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. The Superior Court of Justice for Ontario, Canada is the successor to the former Ontario Court of Justice (General Division, and was created on April A Justice of the Peace ( JP) is a Puisne Judicial officer appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace 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 redacted copy be released to the public. ^[25] 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^[26], ruling that it was "unconstitutionally vague" and broad^[27] 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 RCMP Commissioner Garry Loeppky lobbied hard, in the spring of 2003, to convince his government (then led by 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. Commissioner is the highest rank of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP and of its predecessor agencies the North West Mounted Police (1873 to 1904 and the Royal North The Liberal Party of Canada ( Parti libéral du Canada) colloquially known as the Grits (originally " Clear Grits " is a major Canadian political Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien, (generally known as Jean Chrétien) (born January 11, 1934) is a Canadian politician who was the twentieth Prime "

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. Franco D Pillarella is a Canadian career diplomat and the current Canadian ambassador to Romania, Bulgaria, and Moldova. 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. ^[6][8] The U. S. ambassador at the time of the incident, Paul Cellucci, refused to testify. Argeo Paul Cellucci (born April 24, 1948) is an American politician and diplomat former Governor of Massachusetts, and former Ambassador

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. Stephen J Toope (born 1958) is the President of the University of British Columbia, a post he assumed on July 1, 2006 for a term of five 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. ^[28]

On September 18, 2006, the Canadian Commission of Inquiry, led by Dennis O'Connor, Associate Chief Justice of Ontario, issued its report. Dennis R O'Connor is the current Associate Chief Justice of Ontario and sits on the Ontario Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal for Ontario (frequently referred to as Ontario Court of Appeal or OCA) is headquartered in Downtown Toronto, in historic 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. ^[28][29][30]

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. ^[31]

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:

Mr. Events 48 BC - Pompey the Great is assassinated on orders of King Ptolemy of Egypt after landing in Egypt. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Giuliano Zaccardelli, COM is a former Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP officer who was the Commissioner of the RCMP from September 2, 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. ^[32]

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. ^[33] 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 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. A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law as an attorney, Counsel or Solicitor; a person 5 million settlement for his ordeal and an additional $1 million for legal costs. Costs redirects here For costs related to economics and accounting see Cost. ^[9]

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. "^[34]

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. ^[35]

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. Giuliano Zaccardelli, COM is a former Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP officer who was the Commissioner of the RCMP from September 2, The contradictions were with respect to what he knew at the time and what he told government ministers. ^[36]

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. ^[37][38]

U. S. government response

The Bush administration continues to maintain that Arar's rendition to Syria was legal and well within its right. ^[39] 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. The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice (see) concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement Alberto R Gonzales (born August 4 1955) was the 80th Attorney General of the United States.

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. ^[40] During a press conference Gonzales said:^[41]

"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 immigration laws. Nationality law is the branch of a country's legal system wherein legislation custom and court precedent combine to define the ways in which that country's Nationality and 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. "

On September 20, 2006, Charles Miller, a 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 Department of Homeland Security. Charles Miller can refer to Charles Miller (actor Charles Miller (author, author of popular books on East African history For animal rights group see Justice Department (JD The United States Department of Justice ( DOJ) is a Cabinet department ^[42]

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. Stockwell Burt Day Jr, PC, MP (born August 16, 1950 in Barrie Ontario) is a Canadian Politician and 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". ^[43]

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. David Horton Wilkins (born October 12, 1946) is the current United States Ambassador to Canada. ^[44] Notwithstanding, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has vowed to continue to press the United States on this matter. This article is about the government position For other uses see Prime Minister (disambiguation. WikipediaManual of Style (biographies#Honorific prefixes --> Stephen Joseph Harper PC 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. "^[45]

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. Events 1740 - Maria Theresa takes the throne of Austria. France, Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony The Globe and Mail is a Canadian English language nationally distributed Newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities . . . " ^[46] 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 Senate Judiciary Committee, has threatened to hold extensive hearings into Arar's case. Patrick Joseph Leahy (born March 31, 1940) is the senior United States Senator from Vermont. The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary (informally Senate Judiciary Committee) is a Standing committee of the United States Senate, the 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. "^[47]

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales noted that the United States had assurances from Syria that Arar would not be tortured. In most Common law jurisdictions the Attorney General, or Attorney-General, is the main legal advisor to the government and in some jurisdictions may in addition Alberto R Gonzales (born August 4 1955) was the 80th Attorney General of the United States. 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. ^[48]

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. ”^[49] 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. ”^[50]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. ^[51]

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. ^[52]

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^[53]video. A redacted copy of the Department of Homeland Security report was released ^[54]

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. William D (Bill Delahunt (born July 18, 1941) has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 1997 representing 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.

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. ^[55] 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. " ^[56]

At a summit meeting in Monterrey, Mexico, on January 13, 2004, former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin and 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. A summit meeting (or summit) is a meeting of heads of state or government, usually with considerable media exposure tight security and a prearranged This article is about the Mexican city for other uses see Monterrey (disambiguation. The Prime Minister of Canada ( French: Premier ministre du Canada) is the primary Minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus Paul Edgar Philippe Martin. PC, MP (also known as Paul Martin Jr The President of the United States is the Head of state and Head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in United States by George Walker Bush ( born July 6 1946 is the forty-third and current President of the United States. However, according to a news story in the Toronto Globe and Mail, Stephen Yale-Loehr, lawyer and adjunct professor of immigration and asylum law at Cornell University told the Arar inquiry "the Canada-U. The meaning of the word professor ( Latin: professor, person who professes to be an expert in some art or science teacher of highest rank) varies S. agreement struck. . . to prevent a recurrence of the Arar affair is ineffective and legally unenforceable. "^[57]

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. Jack Hooper is the former deputy director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, and a former member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP Events 680 - Battle of Karbala: Shia Imam Husayn bin Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, is decapitated ^[58] A year later, Hooper contacted the 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. The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT more commonly known as Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada is a department in the Government ^[59]

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 sent from Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter MacKay to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. A letter of protest is a diplomatic document presented by one state's Foreign ministry to another state The Minister of Foreign Affairs (Ministre des Affaires étrangères is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the federal Peter Gordon MacKay, PC, QC, MP (born September 27, 1965) serves as the Member of Parliament (MP for Central Nova The United States Secretary of State (commonly abbreviated as SecState) is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with Foreign affairs Condoleezza Rice (born November 14 1954 is the 66th United States ^[60] 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. "^[61]

U. S. embassy statements

Robert H. Tuttle, the US ambassador to Britain told the BBC on December 22, 2005:

"I don't think there is any evidence that there have been any renditions carried out in the country of Syria. Robert Holmes Tuttle is the United States Ambassador to the Court of St The office of United States Ambassador (or Minister to the United Kingdom (known formally as Ambassador to the Court of St There is no evidence of that. And I think we have to take what the secretary Condoleezza Rice says at face value. Condoleezza Rice (born November 14 1954 is the 66th United States 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. "

This statement was amended the very next day by a U. S. embassy spokeswoman who stated that the embassy

"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". ^[62]

Miscellaneous facts

• Arar's wife, Monia Mazigh, ran unsuccessfully as the NDP candidate in the Ottawa South riding in the 2004 federal election. Monia Mazigh (منية مازيغ is a Canadian academic best known for her efforts to free her husband Maher Arar from a Syrian prison For the provincial district please see Ottawa South (provincial electoral district This page is about the federal electoral district for the neighbourhood An electoral district (also known as a Constituency or a riding in the Canadian English political Jargon) is a geographically-based The Canadian federal election 2004 (more formally the 38th General Election) was held on June 28, 2004 to elect members of the Canadian House of

• TIME magazine chose Arar as "Canadian Newsmaker of the Year" for 2004. Time (trademarked in capitals as TIME) is a weekly American Newsmagazine, similar to Newsweek and The Canadian Newsmaker of the Year is a designation awarded by the Canadian edition of Time magazine

• On October 18, 2006, Arar and the Center for Constitutional Rights were honoured with the Institute for Policy Studies 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. The Center for Constitutional Rights ( CCR) is a non-profit legal advocacy organization based in New York City, New York, U Institute for Policy Studies ( IPS) is a Policy studies non-profit think-tank for progressive or liberal causes based in Washington D Marcos Orlando Letelier del Solar ( April 13, 1932 - September 21, 1976) was a Chilean economist Political figure, Human rights refers to the "basic Rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled ^[63]

• Jimmy Carter, former President of the United States, discusses Arar sympathetically in his bestselling 2005 book Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis. James Earl "Jimmy" Carter Jr (born October 1 1924 was the thirty-ninth President of the United States, serving from 1977 to 1981 and the recipient of the 2002

• Amy Goodman, host of the radio program Democracy Now!, and her brother David Goodman write about Arar in their 2006 book, Static. Amy Goodman (born April 13 1957 in Bay Shore / New York) is an American broadcast journalist, Syndicated columnist and Author Democracy Now! is a syndicated program of news analysis and opinion aired by more than 700 Radio and Television, satellite David Goodman may refer to David Goodman (politician, member of the Ohio Senate David A

• In April of 2007, TIME magazine named Arar to the TIME 100, its annual listing of 100 influential people in the world. ^[64] Arar's entry, at No. 58 in the Heroes & Pioneers category, was written by US Senator 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 United States Senate is the Upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the Lower house being the House of Representatives Patrick Joseph Leahy (born March 31, 1940) is the senior United States Senator from Vermont. " The US would not allow him entry to attend Time's recognition event. ^[65]

In fiction

• The movie Rendition is loosely based on Arar. For the British 2007 film starring Andy Serkis see Extraordinary Rendition (film Rendition is a 2007 Drama

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

External links

General

• Maher Arar's official site
• Video of interview with Maher Arar
• "Maher Arar: Timeline", CBC, updated September 28, 2006
• Arar Commission official site
• Apology Statement Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, September 26, 2007
• "The Horrors of Extraordinary Rendition", A transcript of Maher Arar's Letelier-Moffitt International Human Rights Award acceptance speech, detailing the events. Events 48 BC - Pompey the Great is assassinated on orders of King Ptolemy of Egypt after landing in Egypt. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.
• Legal Filings in Maher Arar's lawsuit against John Ashcroft From the Center for Constitutional Rights
• Interview with Arar on the Disappeared In America website
• Falsehoods led to man's torture, report says
• Transcript and video of Maher Arar's acceptance speech for the Letelier-Moffitt International Human Rights Award.
• Declassified Report on the Events Relating to Maher Arar

News coverage

• Explanation offered for his Detention
• CBC News early report
• CBC News report
• CBC - Maher Arar reported freed
• Canada starts an investigation
• BBC - Interview with Robert Baer about the role of the CIA in the Middle East

Commentary

• The Arar Report: The US Should Follow Canada's Lead, JURIST, September 27, 2006
• Kafka in Canada: The Hounding of Maher Arar, Candide's Notebooks, January 26, 2007

JURIST is an online legal news service hosted by the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, written by founder Professor Bernard Hibbitts and a staff of more than Events 489 - Odoacer attacks Theodoric at the Battle of Verona and is defeated again Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1340 - King Edward III of England is declared King of France. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.

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