Canada in protest over rendition
By Lee Carter
BBC News, Toronto
Canada is to make a formal protest to the United States over the case of a Canadian man deported to Syria in 2002 over suspected al-Qaeda links.
Maher Arar claims that he was tortured in Damascus after being detained by US officials while changing planes in the US on a flight from Tunisia to Ottawa.
A Canadian government inquiry cleared him of any involvement in terrorism.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the US should "come clean" about its "inappropriate conduct".
Mr Arar was detained and questioned by US customs agents while changing planes on his way back from a holiday in Tunisia in New York's JFK airport in September 2002.
He was subsequently deported to Syria. A Canadian government inquiry supported his claims to have been tortured during his eight months of imprisonment in the country.
The inquiry also took Canada's own police force to task over the incident.
A letter of protest is now being delivered by Canada's foreign minister to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
The Canadian Prime Minister, Steven Harper, said that he had also told the US President George W Bush about Canada's protest by telephone.
Mr Harper said that he had wanted US officials to deal honestly with Canada in the future and prevent incidents like this from happening again.
"What I would like to see is obviously the United States government come clean with its version of events to acknowledge the deficiencies and the inappropriate conduct that occurred in this case," he said.
Mr Harper said that he had received assurances from Mr Bush that the matter would be looked into seriously.
A White House spokesperson said that the phone call was welcomed by the president, but had little else to say about Canada's protest.
Last edited by tommymctom on Mon Oct 09, 2006 10:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
tommymctom wrote:
$úñ_DëV|L wrote:
Seriously, what's Canada going to do? HAHA!
Make a big stink about us Torturing one of their citizens in Syria right before midterm elections.
If that shit that Congress pushed through for Bush doesn't piss people off, they're not gonna give a flying fuck about this.
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 7:44 pm Posts: 8910 Location: Santa Cruz Gender: Male
LeninFlux wrote:
Buggy wrote:
Cool. The more idiotic and morally obtuse the US can look around the world the better.
How are we better off by looking "idiotic and morally obtuse" around the world?????
Because when we look bad enough, we wont have anywhere else to go but up. And so far, we're looking pretty terrible. I can feel it coming. We just need a few more moronic blunders to add to the pile.
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 10:51 pm Posts: 14534 Location: Mesa,AZ
Buggy wrote:
LeninFlux wrote:
Buggy wrote:
Cool. The more idiotic and morally obtuse the US can look around the world the better.
How are we better off by looking "idiotic and morally obtuse" around the world?????
Because when we look bad enough, we wont have anywhere else to go but up. And so far, we're looking pretty terrible. I can feel it coming. We just need a few more moronic blunders to add to the pile.
We have a ways to go yet before we reach the level of some of the world's notorious regimes such as the Khmer Rouge or the Nazis. Trust me, we could go much further down if that's what you're hoping for.
_________________
John Adams wrote:
In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress.
I'm a little curious to know just exactly how this guy was tortured.
Was he tortured? Or was he put in a dark room, forced to eat pork, and forced to listen to ruthless dogs bark at him. Perhaps getting some slobber on him during the process.
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 10:51 pm Posts: 14534 Location: Mesa,AZ
LittleWing wrote:
I'm a little curious to know just exactly how this guy was tortured.
Was he tortured? Or was he put in a dark room, forced to eat pork, and forced to listen to ruthless dogs bark at him. Perhaps getting some slobber on him during the process.
Yeah, torture has seriously gotten watered down lately. What happen to the old days when they would scoop out your eyeballs with a spoon and threaten to cut out your tongue if you don't talk, while actually following through with their threats? What happened to several months in a contortion box? It's no wonder we can't get anybody to talk anymore.
_________________
John Adams wrote:
In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress.
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