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Revision as of 06:45, 7 March 2003 by Montrealais (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Maher Arar is a Canadian citizen born in Syria, an Ottawa software engineer. In September 2002, he was detained by United States immigration officials while changing planes at JFK Airport while returning to Canada from vacation with his family in Tunisia. He was deported to Syria and disappeared. He later was discovered in a Syrian jail.
His deportation was condemned by the Canadian government and other groups such as Amnesty International, as was the American immigration policy of racial profiling. On October 29, 2002, the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a travel advisory strongly cautioning Canadians born in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, and Sudan against travel to the United States for any reason. (This complaint led to Pat Buchanan's "Soviet Canuckistan" comment.)
The American ambassador to Canada, Paul Cellucci, later told Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham that all Canadian passport holders would be treated equally. However, incidents attributed to racial profiling continue to be reported.
As of early March 2003, Mr. Arar was still imprisoned in Syria, and in Canada the New Democratic Party was pressuring the government to do more to secure his return to Canada.