[NYTr] Canada Apologizes, Compensates, Man US Kidnapped for Torture
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AP via CNN - Jan 26, 2007
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/01/26/canada.apology.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
Canada compensates man U.S. rendered for torture to Syria
OTTAWA, Canada (AP) -- Canada's prime minister apologized to Maher Arar
on Friday and announced the government would compensate him C$10.5
million (US$8.9 million) for its role in his deportation from the U.S.
to Syria, where he was tortured while held in prison for nearly a year.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper again called on the U.S. government to
remove the Ottawa telecoms engineer from any of its no-fly or terrorist
watchlists and reiterated that Ottawa would keep pressing Washington to
clear Arar's name.
"We think the evidence is absolutely clear and that the United States
should in good faith remove Mr. Arar from the list," Harper told a news
conference in Ottawa. "We don't intend to either change or drop our
position."
The U.S. government has repeatedly insisted it has reasons to leave the
37-year-old on its watchlists. The issue has grown into an unpleasant
diplomatic row between the world's largest trading partners and closest
allies.
The Syrian-born Arar, who moved to Canada with his family when he was
17, is the best-known case of rendition, a practice in which the U.S.
government sends foreign terror suspects to third countries for
interrogation.
Arar thanked the Canadian government at a news conference Friday.
"The struggle to clear my name has been long and hard; my kids have
suffered silently and I feel that I owe them a lot," said Arar, who
also thanked Canadians for standing by him. (Watch Arar tell of
family's heartache Video)
"Without the support of the Canadian people, I may never have come home
and I would not have been able to stay strong and push for the truth,"
he said. A 'terrible ordeal'
Arar was detained at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport in 2002 during
a stopover on his way home to Canada from a vacation with his family in
Tunisia.
He said he was chained and shackled by U.S. authorities for 11 days
during interrogation and then flown to Syria, where he was tortured and
forced to make false confessions.
He was released 10 months later, with Syrian officials saying they had
no reason to hold him further.
"On behalf of the government of Canada, I want to extend a full apology
to you and Monia as well as your family for the role played by Canadian
officials in the terrible ordeal that you experienced in 2002 and
2003," Harper said. Arar and his wife, Monia Mazigh, and their young
son and daughter now live in Kamloops, British Columbia.
"I sincerely hope that these words and actions will assist you and your
family in your efforts to begin a new and hopeful chapter in your
lives," Harper said, adding the compensation package would also pay for
his estimated $1 million in legal fees.
Arar was exonerated last September after a two-year public inquiry led
by Associate Chief Justice of Ontario Dennis O'Connor.
It found that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police wrongly labeled Arar as
an Islamic fundamentalist and passed misleading and inaccurate
information to U.S. authorities, which very likely led to Arar's arrest
and deportation.
The report pointed out that Arar's inability to find work since his
return from Syria has had a devastating economic and psychological
impact on him and his family.
O'Connor urged the RCMP to usher in a raft of policy changes on
information sharing, training and monitoring of security probes. In the
aftermath, RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli resigned over his
handling of the file. Cross-border tensions
The U.S. District Court of Appeals last February dismissed Arar's
lawsuit against U.S. government officials, ruling the deportation of
the dual Syrian-Canadian citizen was protected on national security
grounds. His attorneys with the New York-based Center for
Constitutional Rights filed an appeal in December.
"We are grateful that the Canadian government has had the humanity to
try to right the terrible wrong that was done to Maher," CCR Attorney
Maria LaHood said in a statement Friday. "We still hope the U.S.
government will follow Canada's lead."
The new Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen.
Patrick Leahy, earlier this month publicly scolded U.S. Attorney
General Alberto Gonzales for refusing to explain why the United States
had sent a Canadian citizen to Syria.
"The Canadian government now has taken several steps to accept
responsibility for its role in sending Mr. Arar to Syria, where he was
tortured," Leahy said in a statement Friday. "The question remains why,
even if there were reasons to consider him suspicious, the U.S.
government shipped him to Syria where he was tortured, instead of to
Canada for investigation or prosecution."
He said the U.S. Justice Department intended to respond to his demands
next week.
U.S. Ambassador to Canada, David Wilkins, on Wednesday chastised
Canadian Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day for continuing to press
Washington on the Arar matter.
"It's a little presumptuous of him to say who the United States can and
cannot allow into our country," Wilkins said.
In a recent letter to Day, U.S. Homeland Security chief Michael
Chertoff and Gonzales said U.S. files on Arar indicate the decision to
keep Arar on watchlists is "appropriate."
"Our conclusion in this regard is supported by information developed by
U.S. law enforcement agencies that is independent of that provided to
us by Canada with regard to Mr. Arar," the letter said, adding that
they wished to thank Canada for its cooperation in fighting terrorism.
Arar said his case has forced some Canadians to question their
relationship to the United States, noting U.S. authorities declined to
participate in Canada's federal inquiry.
"It's a question that touches all Canadians," Arar said. "Can we really
trust the Americans to be our partners in the fight against terrorism?"
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.
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