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Revision as of 14:11, 2 July 2004 by Montrealais (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Maher Arar (born 1970) is a Canadian and Syrian citizen born in Syria, who moved to Canada at the age of 17 in 1988 to avoid mandatory military service requirements.
Arar earned a bachelor's degree in computer engineering from McGill University and a master's degree from INRS Telecommunications in Montreal, and was employed in Ottawa as a telecommunications engineer. He has two young children and his wife, Monia Mazigh, has a PhD in mathematics from McGill.
On September 26, 2002, he was detained by United States immigration officials while changing planes at JFK Airport while returning to Montreal from vacation with his family in Tunisia. Immigration officials claimed Arar knew a man in Ottawa whom they suspected of having links to the al-Qaeda terror organization, and suspected Arar of being an al-Qaeda member himself. After being held apparently without access to legal representation, and despite being a Canadian citizen travelling with a Canadian passport, he was deported to Syria on October 7 or 8. After his arrival in Syria, he disappeared. The Canadian government was not contacted about Mr. Arar's case until October 10, 2002, after his deportation. He later was discovered to be 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 involving racial profiling. On October 29, 2002, the Canadian foreign affairs department 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 development 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.
In Canada, the New Democratic Party (NDP) pressured the government to do more to secure his return to Canada. The London-based Syrian Human Rights Committee (considered a credible source of information by Amnesty International) reported at this time that Mr. Arar was severely tortured after being imprisoned, and continued to receive physical abuse from time to time. The Syrian ambassador to Canada denied this.
He was finally released on October 5, 2003, 374 days after first being deported to Syria. He immediately returned to Canada to be reunited with his wife and children.
Controversy continued after his release over the circumstances of his deportation. The United States claimed that the RCMP had provided them with a list of suspicious persons that included Mr. Arar's name. It was also discovered that Canadian consular officials knew that Mr. Arar was in custody in the United States but did not believe that he would be deported until he was. The Canadian government maintains that the decision to deport Mr. Arar was taken by American officials alone.
The Canadian NDP continued to push for a full judicial inquiry; in the meantime, Mr. Arar is examining the possibility of legal action against the United States, Jordan, and/or Syria. In December 2003, Ambassador Cellucci said that American domestic security will trump respect of Canadian citizenship and that the United States will not change its policy on deportations to third countries. Prime Minister Paul Martin replied by demanding that Canadian passports be respected.
In January 2004, Mr. Arar announced that he would be suing American Attorney-General John Ashcroft over his treatment.
In yet another twist, an Ottawa Citizen journalist, Juliet O'Neill, who reported on leaks from security sources was investigated by the RCMP on January 21, 2004, to determine the source of the leak. The raid of her residence was condemned by journalists world-wide.
On January 28, 2004 the government did finally announce that a full judicial inquiry would go forward. The Terms of reference were announced on February 6, 2004.
Arar's wife, Monia Mazigh, ran unsuccessfully as the NDP candidate in the Ottawa South riding in the current federal election.
External links
General
- Maher Arar's official site
- CBC News Online: "Maher Arar: Timeline"
- New Democratic Party - Justice for Maher Arar