ZGram - 1/24/2004 - "The Arar Deportation-and-Torture Scandal"
- Part I
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Sun Jan 25 16:45:27 EST 2004
Zgram - Where Truth is Destiny: Now more than ever!
January 24, 2004
Good Morning from the Zundelsite:
I am still waiting for an official report on how the Friday hearings
went. I talked to Ernst on Friday evening, and he thought that
things went extremely well - he called it "wonderful!" - but I don't
want to summarize on my own; I'd rather wait for one of Paul Fromm's
descriptive write-up that always make me feel as though I had been
there.
On Friday, a CSIS agent was on the stand, being cross-examined on
what grounds and with what evidence he had compiled the viciously
hostile report, and he was forced to admit that he had not "publicly"
seen anything that would have justified the smears. His
cross-examination will continue on Monday and will be another fine
piece for the record. That's how the Zundelists write Modern Galileo
History!
There is another important story breaking both in the United States
and Canada that might be of benefit to Ernst because it suggests
nasty collusion between the two governments in railroading another
deportation victim into a horrid nightmare. This one isn't a
convenient target as a White Male with politically incorrect views
unflattering to the Holocaust Lobby; he is a young Arab professional
with a young family and apparently no political Black Page. It will
be much harder to demonize him as Ernst has constantly been demonized
to keep the shekels flowing for his foes.
Read on:
[START]
Canadian sues U.S. over expulsion, torture in Syria
By Grant McCool
NEW YORK, Jan 22 (Reuters) - A Syrian-born Canadian sued U.S.
Attorney General John Ashcroft on Thursday for deporting him to Syria
as an al Qaeda suspect and said government officials knew he would be
tortured in a Damascus jail.
The lawsuit filed in Brooklyn federal court is the latest development
in a case that has strained relations between the United States and
Canada, raised security and human rights issues and led to a new
deportation deal between Ottawa and Washington.
Computer technician Maher Arar was arrested between international
flights at Kennedy airport in New York in Sept. 2002. He was
interrogated for 13 days and expelled to Jordan and then Syria, where
he said he was held for more than 10 months in a "dark, damp hole"
and tortured.
Arar was freed in October 2003 and returned to Canada, but he is
barred from the United States. At a news briefing in New York to
announce the lawsuit, Arar talked by speakerphone.
"I believe that the persons who sent me to Syria knew that I would be
interrogated under torture there," said Arar, 33, who lives in Ottawa
with his wife and two children. He has been unemployed since his
return from Syria after years of working for a high-tech company.
Arar added that he had "never knowingly associated with terrorists"
and that under brutal treatment in Syria, he "falsely confessed to my
torturers."
One of his lawyers, Steven Watt, said: "Syria released him as an
innocent man and an innocent man he remains today."
In a statement on Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice headed by
Ashcroft said it believed Arar was a member of al Qaeda, the radical
Islamic group blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001, plane strikes and other
attacks.
CABINET MEMBERS NAMED
The lawsuit named Ashcroft, Homeland Security Department Secretary
Tom Ridge, FBI director Robert Mueller and a dozen other officials as
defendants. It said Arar's deportation broke U.S. and international
laws against torture.
The Justice Department said its information about Arar could not be
made public because it was classified.
"In removing Mr. Arar, we acted fully within law and applicable
international treaties and conventions," it said.
Lawyers for the Center for Constitutional Rights said the suit was
the first to challenge the government's "extraordinary renditions"
program of keeping foreigners suspected of being a security risk out
of the country.
"Federal officials removed Mr. Arar to Syria under the program
precisely because Syria could use methods of interrogation to obtain
information from Mr. Arar that would not be legally or morally
acceptable in this country or other democracies," the lawsuit said.
It was filed on Arar's behalf by the Center, which has been at the
forefront of legal challenges to U.S. detention and deportation
policy of Muslim men since the Sept. 11 attacks.
Arar requested a court declaration clearing him of any association
with terrorist organizations or suspected terrorists. The lawsuit
seeks a declaration of the unconsitutionality of his detention and
rights violations.
Thirdly, he demanded unspecified monetary damages for economic losses
and emotional and physical injuries.
***He has also asked for a public inquiry into the role, if any, of
the Canadian police and spy agency in the case*** (emphasis added),
which has been a sticky issue for new Prime Minister Paul Martin.
In Canada on Wednesday, the story took another twist when police
raided the office and home of Ottawa journalist Juliet O'Neill to
investigate possible leaks of classified information about Arar. The
probes prompted widespread media outrage.
Martin said he was "quite concerned" by the raids.
[END]
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