Administration Must Disclose What it Knew about Canadian Mistakenly Detained and Tortured

I believe a grave injustice may have occurred in the detention and torture of a Canadian citizen named Maher Arar as a result of actions by American intelligence agencies. That is why I will be cosponsoring five resolutions directing key members of the Bush Administration – including the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and the President – to share with Congress what they know about Mr. Arar's case, and explain how they could have collectively failed when it came to protecting this man's rights.

In 2002, Mr. Arar was detained by law enforcement personnel in New York under suspicion of having ties to terrorists. He was ultimately sent by the U.S. government via extraordinary rendition to Syria. There, he was tortured for 10 months before American intelligence agencies determined he was "completely innocent" and was released.
 
The Canadian government recently concluded an inquiry into Arar’s detention. It found that Arar's "links" to terrorists were a fiction and that the United States government lied to Canada about its intentions.  According to the inquiry, American officials told their Canadian counterparts only that Arar was wanted for questioning. They never alerted our ally in the war on terrorism that Arar had been sent to Syria nor that he had been tortured. I will continue to work with my colleagues to make sure that the Administration provides all of the information it has on how an innocent man’s freedoms could have been so horrible violated.

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