Maher Arar encore
I’ve just read a detailed account of the Maher Arar story, with a heavy heart and a huge sense of outrage. I know this is not the only case of this kind (well, in a sense it is, but it’s not the only case of an innocent being tortured by or at the behest of the USA in recent times), but its awfulness, and the ease with which this young man’s life was completely trashed, make it an object lesson for anyone concerned about civil liberties during the soi-disant war on terror.
The story’s in the Canadian news at present, with an inquiry there being headed up by Justice Dennis O’Connor. The inquiry resumes public hearings on May 9. In fact the inquiry was called back in January 2004, though it didn’t begin until June. Arar also launched a lawsuit against the US government in January 2004. Interestingly but unsurprisingly the US administration has already refused to co-operate with the Canadian inquiry, no doubt claiming that ‘classified information’ is involved. Having read a number of online articles, I’ve gathered that the Mounties, the RCMP, were murkily involved in events leading to Arar’s ‘apprehension’ and deportation to Syria, a country Arar left in his youth, and a country he was loath to return to, as his family had fallen foul of the government there. Of course now everybody with any responsibility, at least on the Canadian side of the border, is ducking for cover. When documents are released, huge portions of them are blacked out, again with the usual excuse.
There was never any evidence produced against Arar, except that he knew someone who knew someone who was suspected of being a terrorist. He was accused of training in Afghanistan or at least of visiting the country, but this has been denied, and again there's no evidence. He was released through popular pressure, a campaign in which his wife Monia Mazigh was heavily involved. During his imprisonment, she stood unsuccessfully as an MP in Canada.
Apart from the obvious civil liberties issues this case raises, there’s the major question of accountability. Will there ever be any consequences for the powers whose decisions have devastated so many innocent people like Arar? If ‘honest mistakes’ are made, they should be corrected immediately, and those who are responsible for trying to cover them up should also be brought to justice, as they are knowingly destroying lives in the process.
The story’s in the Canadian news at present, with an inquiry there being headed up by Justice Dennis O’Connor. The inquiry resumes public hearings on May 9. In fact the inquiry was called back in January 2004, though it didn’t begin until June. Arar also launched a lawsuit against the US government in January 2004. Interestingly but unsurprisingly the US administration has already refused to co-operate with the Canadian inquiry, no doubt claiming that ‘classified information’ is involved. Having read a number of online articles, I’ve gathered that the Mounties, the RCMP, were murkily involved in events leading to Arar’s ‘apprehension’ and deportation to Syria, a country Arar left in his youth, and a country he was loath to return to, as his family had fallen foul of the government there. Of course now everybody with any responsibility, at least on the Canadian side of the border, is ducking for cover. When documents are released, huge portions of them are blacked out, again with the usual excuse.
There was never any evidence produced against Arar, except that he knew someone who knew someone who was suspected of being a terrorist. He was accused of training in Afghanistan or at least of visiting the country, but this has been denied, and again there's no evidence. He was released through popular pressure, a campaign in which his wife Monia Mazigh was heavily involved. During his imprisonment, she stood unsuccessfully as an MP in Canada.
Apart from the obvious civil liberties issues this case raises, there’s the major question of accountability. Will there ever be any consequences for the powers whose decisions have devastated so many innocent people like Arar? If ‘honest mistakes’ are made, they should be corrected immediately, and those who are responsible for trying to cover them up should also be brought to justice, as they are knowingly destroying lives in the process.
posted by Stewart at 1:40 pm
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