Canada's Prime Minister has apologized to Maher Arar, who was grabbed by the U.S. and sent to Syria for torture, as part of the War on Terror. Arar spoke about the need for human rights at a benefit in Vancouver, February 12th, 2009.
CFRO Brown Bagger program, recorded by Alex Smith. Presented by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives www.policyalternatives.ca. With introductions by Seth Klein, Professor Michael Byers, and Canadian broadcaster Kelly Krichton, former Executive Producer of CBCs "The National" news program.
In September 2002, Canadian Maher Arar was returning home from a holiday in Tunisia. At his stop-over in New York, he was detained. Shadowy American officials accused him of links to the Al Qaeda terrorist group. The Americans swiftly deported Maher Arar to Syria, despite his Canadian passport.
In Syria, he was held in a tiny âgrave-likeâ cell for ten months and ten days, before he was moved to a better cell in a different prison. In Syria, he was beaten, tortured and forced to make a false confession.
As a later Canadian inquiry discovered, this citizen was snatched and tortured with no evidence against him. The Canadian government was complicit, and finally, years later, the Canadian Prime Minister apologized to Mr. Arar. It is one of the most egregious violations of civil rights, and even the Geneva Convention.
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