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Maher Arar Deserves Answers

by Shane Kadidal, managing attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights - 01/31/07 11:21 AM ET

Last week, upon Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s formal apology to Maher Arar and the Canadian Government’s multi-million dollar settlement of his Canadian lawsuit, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) once again questioned “why, even if there were reasons to consider [Mr. Arar] suspicious, the U.S. Government shipped him to Syria where he was tortured, instead of to Canada for investigation or prosecution. I look forward to hearing the Justice Department’s answer to that question next week.

The U.S. Government is continuing its campaign to harm Mr. Arar’s reputation and undermine his claims. In response to the Canadian Government’s settlement negotiations with Mr. Arar in December 2006, the United States Ambassador to Canada, David Wilkins, announced that Mr. Arar was on a U.S. government “watch list