Canadian Was Falsely Accused, Panel Says
MrBrian
Posts: 2,672
After Tip From Ally, U.S. Sent Muslim to Syria for Questioning
By Doug Struck
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, September 19, 2006; A01
TORONTO, Sept. 18 -- Canadian intelligence officials passed false warnings and bad information to American agents about a Muslim Canadian citizen, after which U.S. authorities secretly whisked him to Syria, where he was tortured, a judicial report found Monday.
The report, released in Ottawa, was the result of a 2 1/2-year inquiry that represented one of the first public investigations into mistakes made as part of the United States' "extraordinary rendition" program, which has secretly spirited suspects to foreign countries for interrogation by often brutal methods.
The inquiry, which focused on the Canadian intelligence services, found that agents who were under pressure to find terrorists after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, falsely labeled an Ottawa computer consultant, Maher Arar, as a dangerous radical. They asked U.S. authorities to put him and his wife, a university economist, on the al-Qaeda "watchlist," without justification, the report said.
Arar, now 36, was detained by U.S. authorities as he changed planes in New York on Sept. 26, 2002. He was held for questioning for 12 days, then flown by jet to Jordan and driven to Syria. He was beaten, forced to confess to having trained in Afghanistan -- where he never has been -- and then kept in a coffin-size dungeon for 10 months before he was released, the Canadian inquiry commission found.
O'Connor concluded that "categorically there is no evidence" that Arar did anything wrong or was a security threat.
Although the report centered on Canadian actions, the counsel for the commission, Paul Cavalluzzo, said the results show that the U.S. practice of renditions "ought to be reviewed."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/18/AR2006091800883_pf.html
By Doug Struck
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, September 19, 2006; A01
TORONTO, Sept. 18 -- Canadian intelligence officials passed false warnings and bad information to American agents about a Muslim Canadian citizen, after which U.S. authorities secretly whisked him to Syria, where he was tortured, a judicial report found Monday.
The report, released in Ottawa, was the result of a 2 1/2-year inquiry that represented one of the first public investigations into mistakes made as part of the United States' "extraordinary rendition" program, which has secretly spirited suspects to foreign countries for interrogation by often brutal methods.
The inquiry, which focused on the Canadian intelligence services, found that agents who were under pressure to find terrorists after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, falsely labeled an Ottawa computer consultant, Maher Arar, as a dangerous radical. They asked U.S. authorities to put him and his wife, a university economist, on the al-Qaeda "watchlist," without justification, the report said.
Arar, now 36, was detained by U.S. authorities as he changed planes in New York on Sept. 26, 2002. He was held for questioning for 12 days, then flown by jet to Jordan and driven to Syria. He was beaten, forced to confess to having trained in Afghanistan -- where he never has been -- and then kept in a coffin-size dungeon for 10 months before he was released, the Canadian inquiry commission found.
O'Connor concluded that "categorically there is no evidence" that Arar did anything wrong or was a security threat.
Although the report centered on Canadian actions, the counsel for the commission, Paul Cavalluzzo, said the results show that the U.S. practice of renditions "ought to be reviewed."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/18/AR2006091800883_pf.html
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Comments
He is going to get PAID big time
Yeah if I was him I would expect some form of compensation...that is truely horrible to hear...makes me wonder how many more people have been deported based on false information.....
The government has refused to apologize yet.....as I watched them argue about it today in Parliament....
yea he is. he deserves every penny. I hope the US apolgizes. I cant imagine what he went through in Syria. those people have no regard for human life.
I hope my government apologizes!
Takes alot for that to happen...Have they even apologized officially about the Chinese head tax yet?
I think Harper did....about 75% sure of that...however I know 100% that he wanted to.....
Another habit says its long overdue
Another habit like an unwanted friend
I'm so happy with my righteous self
i'd argue that neither do canada and the US in a sense, since they sent him there knowing full well what would happen.
And yet we openly claim that we will not extradite a suspect to a foreign country if they will be facing the death penalty. Makes no sense
of course, it's not like they sent him to syria for some good food and a back massage.
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/19/1348206
Yes, he did.