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Arar decries alleged linkage to Khadr case

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Former US detainee and Canadian citizen Maher Arar said Thursday that he was shocked and saddened to learn that US government officials had testified at the US military commission trial of fellow Canadian citizen Omar Khadr that Arar had lived with terrorists in Afghanistan. FBI agent Robert Fuller testified that Khadr had identified Arar as among those living with suspected terrorists. Arar made the statement at a panel sponsored by the Canadian Journalism Foundation in order to highlight the intense media scrutiny that he has felt subjected to since his arrest and detention in 2002. Arar accused the media of a lack of attention to facts and a willingness to promote false allegations made by US sources. Arar was detained by the US in September 2002 after flying to New York from Tunisia on his way home to Canada. The US government deported him to Syria in 2002, where he was tortured despite Syrian assurances that he would not be. Last month, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit began an en banc rehearing of Arar's case, in which he is challenging the US government's policy of extraordinary rendition under the Torture Victim Protection Act and the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution. US lawmakers apologized in 2007 for his arrest, deportation and, torture at the hands of Syrian Officials.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on January 30, 2009 (boomark / email).