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    <td colspan="4"><span class="hilightsTitle"><font size="4" face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif" color="#000000">Nihal Kaneira: Arar story brews up a storm in Canada</font></span></td>
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    <td colspan="4"><font size="-1">&nbsp;|&nbsp;</font><font size="-1">Special to Gulf News&nbsp;|&nbsp;17/11/2003</font></td>
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      <p></p>
      <!-- Special to Gulf News | Nihal Kaneira: Arar story brews up a storm in Canada -->
  The case of Maher Arar, the Syrian-born Canadian citizen, who was arrested in 
  New York, bundled off to Syria to be jailed and tortured for a year for no apparent 
  reason, is turning out to be a real political humdinger for Prime Minister Jean 
  Chretien, the Bush administration and for the regime in Damascus.<br>
  <br>
  There is visceral anger across Canada and the United States over his treatment 
  by the governments of all three countries. His forcible removal from a plane 
  in New York while returning to his home in Canada after a visit to Tunisia, 
  his deportation to Syria by America despite his Canadian citizenship, the role 
  Canadian security services played in fingering him as an Al Qaida suspect, and 
  the treatment he received in Syria are all raising questions which Ottawa, Washington 
  and Damascus are not keen to answer. <br>
  <br>
  The Arar case is threatening to expose all three governments, their machinations 
  and their double standards when it comes to Arabs and Muslims. Ottawa clearly 
  has something to hide because it is reluctant to accede to demands for an independent 
  inquiry. <br>
  <br>
  For Chretien, Arar's demand for an inquiry amounts to nothing more than "another 
  fishing expedition." Hehas rejected such calls even when his Foreign Affairs 
  Minister Bill Graham called upon the Saudi government to accounting of the alleged 
  torture of William Sampson, a Canadian who was recently freed from a Saudi jail 
  after being wrongfully convicted for a car bombing that killed a British national.<br>
  <br>
  Ottawa was also rightly incensed when the Iranian-born Canadian photojournalist 
  Zahra Kazemi, was put in a Tehran prison and later beaten to death. Graham insisted 
  that the Iranian government explain the circumstances of her death, and even 
  withdrew the Canadian ambassador in Tehran for time, demanding action against 
  her assailants. <br>
  <br>
  But in the matter of Arar's imprisonment, the government has demonstrated no 
  comparable outrage. "We have revealed all the facts that we know about it," 
  Prime Minister told the Commons last week. "There is no need for an inquiry." 
  <br>
  <br>
  In the United States too, there is growing anger among Arabs and Muslims about 
  Arar. People who have suffered harassment under the draconian Patriot Act are 
  demanding Congress and Attorney-General John Ashcroft, to investigate. They 
  are especially keen to know whether the deportation violated American laws. 
  <br>
  <br>
  The Center for Constitutional Rights wrote to Congress intelligence committees 
  pressing for a review of Arar's case. The center said Ashcroft should begin 
  a criminal investigation.<br>
  <br>
  Why are all these countries quiet on this? What makes the Canadian government 
  so unconcerned? Could it be because Canada concurred in the deportation? <br>
  <br>
  US Secretary of State Colin Powell, and American Ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci 
  both suggested that Canada was not unhappy with the US for apprehending and 
  dealing with Arar. <br>
  <br>
  There were also reports that the Canadian consulate in New York may have even 
  given the nod to the Americans to deport Arar to Syria instead of Canada. A 
  retiring foreign ministry official has just said that Ottawa gave out mixed 
  signals on Arar to the Americans. <br>
  <br>
  Arabs and Muslims and civil rights groups are particularly irked by Arar's story 
  because it seems to fit with several recent America media reports that have 
  said that US law enforcement agencies are now contracting-out suspected terrorist 
  "interrogations" to countries in the Middle East and Asia as US laws prohibit 
  harsh interrogation methods of prisoners. <br>
  <br>
  Syrian officials say Arar was not charged with anything and released because 
  their interrogators found no basis for the US claim that he was an Al Qaida 
  suspect. But that was after 11 months of beatings and solitary confinement. 
  <br>
  <br>
  Some diplomatic observers believe that Damascus decided to release Arar only 
  to show its displeasure with Washington over US allegations that Syria is allowing 
  Al Qaida fighters to cross over to Iraq through its land routes. <br>
  <br>
  "Arar came home in the end only because Syria got miffed by US allegations and 
  ended intelligence co-operation with Americans on Al Qaida terrorism," explained 
  a diplomat in Ottawa. "Arar was a beneficiary of this diplomatic friction." 
  Now that Arar is home, everyone is keen to sweep the issue under the carpet 
  and move on, the diplomat, who requested anonymity, said. <br>
  <br>
  "It looks like Arar was another innocent Arab who was a victim of the paranoia 
  that is driving politics in this part of the world. Neither the Canadian government 
  nor the U.S. nor the Syrians would want all this to be aired at a public inquiry." 
  <br>
  <br>
  Many analysts agree. They see no prospect of Ottawa letting out the name of 
  the police or intelligence official who provided the Americans with the information 
  about Arar that led to his name being included in the Watch List. <br>
  <br>
  Similarly, the US is unlikely to jeopardise its intelligence-sharing arrangement 
  with Canada by ratting on the Canadian police or security agency that tipped 
  them off. There is a larger issue though. By denying him due process, Arar continues 
  to be victimised. <br>
  <br>
  His civil liberties were violated, his Canadian citizenship failed to protect 
  him. <br>
  <br>
  While the people who fingered him as a terrorist suspect are free to continue 
  rail-roading innocent Arabs and Muslims on the grounds of mere suspicion, Arar 
  and his wife and two children have to live under a cloud of suspicion. He has 
  not been given a chance to clear his name.<br>
  <br>
  That's one part of it. The other is the matter of trust that people have in 
  their governments. How can democratic, constitutional governments that claim 
  to protect civil liberties, which are at the very core of their foundations, 
  subscribe to covert programmes that send their citizens, even suspected terrorists, 
  to other countries to be tortured for information? <br>
  <br>
  "There is good reason to believe that the United States knew and wanted Arar 
  tortured to obtain information," says Jeffrey Fogel, Legal Director at the Centre 
  for Constitutional Rights. "This practice of rendering cannot and must not be 
  allowed to continue."<br>
  <br>
  <i>The writer can be contacted at </i><a href="mailto:nkaneira@gulfnews.com">nkaneira@gulfnews.com</a></td>
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