01-31-2007, 12:32 PM
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#4657
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Moderasaurus Rex
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 33,084
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Quote:
Originally posted by Cletus Miller
I had seen that the Canadian government is compensating him, but the last I saw, the US was nowhere near apologising, much less offering compensation.
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According to NPR:
- The Bush administration formally refused the Canadian government's request to remove Maher Arar from a terrorist watch list.
In 2002, Arar was en route to Canada when he was detained by U.S. officials in New York and sent to Syria, where he was imprisoned for more than a year and endured severe beatings.
At the time, Arar, a Syrian-born software engineer, was living in Ottawa, Canada. Maria LaHood, one of Arar's attorneys, says her client is a victim of extraordinary rendition — where terrorism suspects are sent to third countries for interrogation.
An exhaustive investigation by Canadian officials found that Arar had no terrorist ties; he has been completely cleared by the Canadian government.
Last week, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff sent a letter to Stockwell Day, Canada's minister of public safety, in which they said they have other information about Arar that led them to their decision to keep him on the list.
The three men sat down to review the information on Arar. Later, at a press conference, Day said there was "nothing new" in the U.S. dossier on Arar that would justify keeping him on a terrorist watch list.
For his part, Arar says he'd like the U.S. government to acknowledge its mistakes.
"An apology would be basically on my wish list," Arar said. "Given the history of the U.S. government, it is unlikely this will happen."
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Last edited by Tyrone Slothrop; 01-31-2007 at 12:42 PM..
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