Arar Commission Report Presented to Parliament
The federal commission of inquiry into the Arar Affair delivered its much awaited report to the Canadian Parliament today.
In September 2002, Syrian-born Canadian engineer Maher Arar was vacationing with his wife and two small children in Tunisia. On Sept. 26 while in transit at JFK airport, he was detained by US officials and interrogated about alleged links to al-Qaeda. Twelve days later, he was shackled, thrown into a private plane and sent to Jordan and from there transferred to a Syrian prison. Arar spent a year in Syria where he faced abuse and torture.
The commission's mandate was to investigate the role Canadian officials may have played in these events.
Arar is considered a high profile victim of the U.S. policy called extraordinary rendition under which terrorism suspects are secretly sent to dictatorships where they can be interrogated under torture beyond the reach of any human rights laws or judicial protections.
Commissioner Dennis O’Connor concluded that there is no evidence Arar was ever connected to terrorism or was ever a security threat to Canada.
There will be a second report of the Commission at the end of the year containing recommendations related to the creation of an independent arm’s-length review mechanism for the RCMP’s national security activities.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has news coverage as well as an in-depth file on the Arar story.
In September 2002, Syrian-born Canadian engineer Maher Arar was vacationing with his wife and two small children in Tunisia. On Sept. 26 while in transit at JFK airport, he was detained by US officials and interrogated about alleged links to al-Qaeda. Twelve days later, he was shackled, thrown into a private plane and sent to Jordan and from there transferred to a Syrian prison. Arar spent a year in Syria where he faced abuse and torture.
The commission's mandate was to investigate the role Canadian officials may have played in these events.
Arar is considered a high profile victim of the U.S. policy called extraordinary rendition under which terrorism suspects are secretly sent to dictatorships where they can be interrogated under torture beyond the reach of any human rights laws or judicial protections.
Commissioner Dennis O’Connor concluded that there is no evidence Arar was ever connected to terrorism or was ever a security threat to Canada.
"I am able to say categorically that there is no evidence to indicate that Mr. Arar has committed any offence or that his activities constitute a threat to the security of Canada... Canadian investigators made extensive efforts to find any information that could implicate Mr. Arar in terrorist activities... The results speak for themselves: they found none."It would appear that inexperienced Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) investigators wrongly provided Americans with inaccurate evidence. American officials apparently relied on that erroneous Mountie information in their decision to send Arar to Syria to face imprisonment and torture. There is no evidence Canadian officials participated in the deportation decision.
There will be a second report of the Commission at the end of the year containing recommendations related to the creation of an independent arm’s-length review mechanism for the RCMP’s national security activities.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has news coverage as well as an in-depth file on the Arar story.
Labels: commissions of inquiry, government of Canada, human rights, terrorism
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