Maher Arar (born
1970 in
Syria) is a
Canadian software engineer who was subjected to the
United States policy of
extraordinary rendition, a process where detainees are transferred from one country to another, with the expectation that they may be
tortured in the country to which they are rendered.
Arar, a citizen of both Syria and Canada, was detained during a layover at
John F. Kennedy International Airport in September 2002 on his way home to his family in Canada. He was held in
solitary confinement in the U.S. for nearly two weeks, interrogated, and denied meaningful access to a lawyer. The
Bush administration labelled him a member of Al Qaeda and rendered him, not to Canada, his home and country of citizenship, but to Syrian intelligence authorities, known by the U.S. government to practice torture.
[1] While in Syria, he was tortured and detained for almost a year before being released to Canada.
Both the Canadian and Syrian governments have publicly cleared Arar of any links to terrorism. The United States government, however, refuses to clear Arar’s name and continues to have both him and his family on a watchlist.
His U.S. attorneys at the
Center for Constitutional Rights are currently pursuing his case,
Arar v. Ashcroft, which seeks compensatory damages on Arar’s behalf and also a declaration that the actions of the U.S. government were illegal and violated his constitutional, civil, and international human rights.
AP - A college student facing a terrorism-related charge made a video showing how to detonate explosives using a remote-controlled toy, and the demonstration was uploaded to a popular Web site before he was arrested, according to court documents.
