Police mistakes led to US deporting Canadian-probe

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N18301172.htm

Police mistakes led to US deporting Canadian-probe

OTTAWA, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Canadian police wrongly identified an Ottawa software engineer as an Islamic extremist, prompting U.S. agents to deport him to Syria, where he says he was tortured, an official inquiry concluded on Monday.

Maher Arar, who holds Canadian and Syrian nationality, was arrested in New York in September 2002 and accused of being an al-Qaeda member. Arar, 36, says he was repeatedly tortured in the year he spent in Damascus jails. He was freed in 2003.

Judge Dennis O'Connor, asked in 2004 to examine what had happened, said the Royal Canadian Mounted Police wrongly told U.S. authorities that Arar was an Islamic extremist.

...

It said the Mounties exaggerated Arar's importance and later asked U.S. customs agents to put Arar and his wife onto a special watchlist, calling them "Islamic Extremist individuals suspected of being linked to the Al Qaeda terrorist movement".

U.S. agencies declined to be questioned by O'Connor as to why they had deported Arar.

[Kagemusha]

1. What an infuriating travesty.

So much for blaming the overzealous Americans. No wonder there's been so much effort to keep this quiet and delay this report for as long as possible - it was the fault of Canada after all! The Americans can only be faulted so much for deporting the man given what Canada told them...

So when's the huge lawsuit?

[acmavm]

2. We sent the guy to Syria to be tortured. I understand Canada's

culpability in this major f**k up, but my God, we sent the guy to friggin' Syria.

The information was untrue and unreliable but what the f**k was it? It had to be pretty damn serious to send the guy to Syria.

[Exultant Democracy]

21. You are so right... and guess what fucking assholes fuck up all the time

that is one of the major reasons it is so easy to spot an asshole. I am clenching me fists right now this is so fucking evil and stupid.


FUCK BUSH! FUCK the Neo-con's and FUCK our so called intelligence community. They should try to stop planes from hitting buildings instead of torturing software engineers.

[CHIMO]

3. RCMP criticized in deportation, torture of Arar

The RCMP should never share intelligence reports with other countries without written conditions about how that information is used, Judge O'Connor says.

He also says information should never be provided to a foreign country if there is a risk of it being used to torture people.

The RCMP asked the Americans to put Mr. Arar and Dr. Mazigh on a watch list as "Islamic extremist individuals suspected of being linked to the al Qaeda terrorist movement," the report says.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060918.wararmain0918/BNStory/National/home

[Kagemusha]

7. ...Written conditions would have absolutely no legal weight.

The only thing that could happen is Canada retaliating by withholding intel.. and it gets a lot more intel than it gives, so that won't work.

Judge O'Conner is very naive on this point, sadly.

[CHIMO]

8. RCMP official at Arar inquiry says innocent people placed in national data

RCMP official at Arar inquiry says innocent people placed in national database

OTTAWA - The RCMP's deputy commissioner says information about innocent people caught in police investigations is stored in a national security database.

Gary Loeppky says that information can be passed to U.S. authorities if they request it. Loeppky was testifying at the public inquiry into the Maher Arar case.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2004/06/30/ArarRCMP_040630.html

Mountie can't rule out complicity in Arar case
Arar lawyer Marlys Edwardh cited a "holus-bolus data dump" on April 2, 2002, that included CDs containing officers' notes, documents, correspondence and evidence seized in a series of Jan. 22, 2002, raids.

RCMP had earlier turned over to U.S. officials more than two dozen hard drives that Loeppky acknowledged included personal information not related to a terrorist investigation.

Once in American hands, the material could have been distributed among 13 different U.S. agencies, Edwardh said.

Loeppky said caveats dictating the use of such information need not necessarily be written down. Police forces understand they exist, though he said agencies like the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service may not.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1122633182307_67/?hub=Canada

I would question any intelligence that is received and I would also question the amount of intelligence that is provided, from US agents allowed to have offices in Canada to financial data that is available to the CIA for US corporations.

Assumptions are quite dangerous roads to venture into.

[Kagemusha]

9. Oh, I disagree with not one thing you said in this latest reply

I'm just saying that once in American hands, Canada has no say whatsoever as to how it is used, never could, never will - it would be a violation of American sovereignty and the freedom of the American people. Canada absolutely should be careful... but written guarantees that the US will not use info in a certain way are unenforceable and worthless, and worse - false comfort.

[CHIMO]

10. No Comfort

Just look at softwood. But when blowback happens it happens.

[Kagemusha]

11. The only way to avoid blowback is to not blow forward.

Hope Canada does less of that from here on.

[Spazito]

4. Good, finally, Mr. Arar and his wife have been vindicated....

The Canadian government is entering into negotiations regarding compensation, I hope he nails them to the wall, financially. (Yes, I realize it is we, the taxpayers, that will be paying and so we should, it was our government and our federal police agency that is directly to blame for this travesty as reported in O'Connor's report.

[JohnyCanuck]

5. I'd bet the RCMP were probably chomping at the bit

to earn browny points with the FBI, Fatherland Security etc. by giving them a nice, juicy terrorist they could put the squeeze on. No doubt, they figured it would make the Mounties look like heroes to Fatherland Security if they could help them nail a real, honest to God evil-doer in the war on terror. Probably falling all over themselves to oblige the US, fact checking and a thorough review of Arar's case took a back seat. Bunch of brown nosers. That's may take on it, anyhow.

[Kagemusha]

6. It's strong logic and probably true.

Wish I could answer the guy who replied to my reply above as to what the info was anyway, why it was false and all that... but to be perfectly honest, isn't that exactly what the report will keep classified?

[RamboLiberal]

12. WP: Probe: Canada Gave U.S. Misleading Data (Rendition Syria)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/18/AR2006091800883.html

An inquiry into the U.S. transfer of a Canadian citizen to prison in Syria found Canadian authorities gave misleading information to the Americans that likely led to the deportation, a report released Monday said.

After his release in 2003, Syrian-born Maher Arar made detailed allegations about extensive interrogation, beatings and whippings with electrical cable in Syrian prison cells.

Arar was traveling on a Canadian passport when he was detained at a New York airport in September 2002 during a stopover on his way home to Canada from vacation in Tunisia. He claims he was a victim of extraordinary rendition _ or the transfer of foreign terror suspects to third countries without court approval.

Arar said U.S. authorities sent him to Syria for interrogation on suspicion of being a member of al-Qaida, an allegation he denied.

[LynnTheDem]

13. Yes it was Canada's fault the USA deported a Canadian to Syria.

Uh huh.

And Hussein's fault that US invaded Iraq.

Uh huh.

[depakid]

14. Is there anything that the Post won't say?

That paper's become little more than a tabloid.

[Judi Lynn]

15. Judge: Man was tortured after U.S. got faulty info

Sept. 19, 2006, 12:27AM
Judge: Man was tortured after U.S. got faulty info
Canadian sent to Syria based on misleading data from Mounties


By IAN AUSTEN
New York Times

OTTAWA — A government commission on Monday exonerated a Canadian computer engineer of any ties to terrorism and issued a scathing report that faulted both Canada and the United States for his deportation four years ago to Syria, where he was imprisoned and tortured.

The report on the engineer, Maher Arar, said American officials had apparently acted on inaccurate information from Canadian investigators and then misled Canadian authorities before sending Arar to Syria.

"I am able to say categorically that there is no evidence to indicate that Mr. Arar has committed any offense or that his activities constituted a threat to the security of Canada," Justice Dennis R. O'Connor, head of the commission, said at a news conference.

The report's findings could reverberate heavily through the leadership of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which handled the initial intelligence on Arar that led security officials in both Canada and the United States to assume he was a suspected al-Qaida terrorist.
(snip/...)

http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4197024.html
(Free registration may be necessary)

[Erika]

16. But Syria supposedly housed Saddam's WMD's

Oh, well.

[pinniped]

17. Syria, WTF?

I thought they were on Asshole's axis list?

They're our friends because they torture people for us.

I get it.

[Hekate]

18. I remember reading about this in the LA Times a couple of years ago

It was absolutely horrifying, and crystal clear: Bushco outsources torture.

I'm so glad this man was exonerated. I just wish Bush-Cheney would get their day in court too.

Hekate

[ShockediSay]

19. Probably not the first case

nor the last

[lfairban]

20. Ink jet printer cartridges?

The commission found that Arar first came to police attention on Oct. 12, 2001 when he met with Abdullah Almalki, a man already under surveillance by a newly established RCMP intelligence unit known as Project A-O Canada. Arar has said in interviews that the meeting at Mango's Cafe in Ottawa, and a subsequent 20-minute conversation in the rain outside the restaurant, was mostly about finding inexpensive ink jet printer cartridges.

:wtf:

[1democracy]

22. Without rights, the innocent languish

That is exactly why due process needs apply to all suspects. Let them prove a person guilty of a crime. Also the right to speedy trial and to know what you are accused of. Only the bullies(read: too lazy to care about innocence or the rights of the individual)resort to such tactics. Since when did might make right?

[pberq]

23. Inquiry Finds Torture Survivor Maher Arar Completely Innocent

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/19/1348206

<snip>
On Monday, the Canadian government admitted for the first time that Arar was a completely innocent man. Justice Dennis O'Connor released the findings of a two-year major investigation into the disappearance of Arar. The judge wrote, "I am able to say categorically that there is no evidence to indicate that Mr. Arar has committed any offence or that his activities constituted a threat to the security of Canada."

The official inquiry said that there is no evidence that Canadian officials played a direct role in his detention or deportation. However Justice O'Connor found that the U.S. government's decision to send Arar to Syria was likely based on inaccurate and misleading information provided by Canadian authorities. The judge also criticized the Bush administration's actions. The judge wrote, "They removed him to Syria against his wishes and in the face of his statements that he would be tortured if sent there."

(more at link including interview with Maher)

[CHIMO]

24. Attorneys Argue Senate Bills Would Allow for Lifelong Detention Without Tr

Attorneys Argue Senate Bills Would Allow for Lifelong Detention Without Trial, Torture Without Accountability

MICHAEL RATNER: Well, what's extraordinary about everything that’s going on now in Washington -- you know, you just covered the Maher Arar case, and sadly none of it, none of it, would really stop what happened to Maher Arar, which is the taking of someone, outsourcing torture to another country, sending him to a place where he could be tortured. So I want to just start, that this is an important debate in Washington, but it’s not going to stop the tragic cases like Maher Arar, of which I think there's many, many cases. I just want to make that clear.

The debate is really in Washington on three issues. One of them has not been covered at all. The first issue is what kind of interrogation techniques can be used. Can torture be used? Can you violate Common Article 3? Can you use those techniques you spoke about, including, I think, waterboarding, which is the mock drowning of somebody? And on those issues, McCain, Warner and Graham have taken a position that they don't want those used. And so, we're at loggerheads between two factions of the Republicans right now. I don't know how it will come out. I certainly hope that McCain and Warner stick, and Graham, to their position on that.

But there’s two other issues going on, one of which has not been covered at all. One is, of course, the military commissions, and again the McCain bill, which is not the administration bill, is better on that as well. It doesn't allow you to use evidence from torture. It makes sure that the defendant in a military commission is present at trial and gives a person more rights at a military commission.

But the third issue, which has not been covered, is, to me, very critical and is in both of the pieces of legislation. In both the administration bill and in the McCain-Graham-Warner bill, in both cases you abolish the writ of habeas corpus. The government, the Congress, is abolishing the writ of habeas corpus. The habeas corpus writ is the right to challenge your detention once you’re picked up by the United States. It would apply to Guantanamo. It would apply to everybody in Bagram. And it basically says that anybody picked up, now or in the future or who is there now, no longer has the writ of habeas corpus.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/19/1348212