Inaccurate information led the US to send an Arab-Canadian to a Syrian jail. Now, with his name cleared, Maher Arar waits for compensation, reports Hadeel Al-Shalchi Canada may file a formal complaint with the United States and Syria for the detainment and torture of Canadian Maher Arar. This is one of 23 recommendations made by Justice Dennis O'Connor, in a report ending a two-and-a-half year public enquiry into the case. Arar, 36, spent a year of torture in a Syrian jail after being deported by the US in September 2002. "American authorities who handled Arar's case treated Arar in a most regrettable fashion," wrote O'Connor in the report. "They removed him to Syria against his wish and in the face of his statements that he would be tortured if sent there. Moreover, they dealt with Canadian officials involved with Arar's case in a less than forthcoming manner." Arar was travelling home to Ottawa on a Canadian passport after a vacation in Tunisia, when he was detained at Kennedy airport in New York. He was swiftly deported to Syria for interrogation because the US says it had enough evidence to believe Arar was linked to Al-Qaeda. He was not told where he was going or why. Arar spent a year in a Syrian jail, and upon his return spoke of being whipped with electrical cables, intensive interrogation and living in squalid isolation. He was also forced to sign a false confession. Arar was only released after mounting public pressure in Canada led by his wife, Monia Mazigh. The enquiry found that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) asked the US to place Arar on a watch list as an "Islamic extremist individual". They say it's because Arar once met a man who is under surveillance in Ottawa. Arar says they only met to talk about buying computer parts. The report uncovered many errors the RCMP committed by leaking inaccurate information to the US that "very likely" led the US to deport Arar. "The RCMP had no basis for this description, which had the potential to create serious consequences for Arar in light of American attitudes and practices," the report said. Alex Neve, the executive director of Amnesty International Canada says his group is delighted with the report and welcomes its recommendations. He says Arar is elated and relieved to have his name cleared so powerfully of any terrorist links. "[Justice] O'Connor has illustrated in his report the notion that human rights standards must be at the centre of a nation's approach to counter- terrorism," said Neve. Neve says the report also discovered that even Arar's wife and children -- who were five months and five years -- were also put on a terror watch list.
