Tag: Maher Arar

Today, the Supreme Court denied cert in Maher Arar's civil suit against U.S. officials for damages resulting from his seizure at JFK airport while changing planes and subsequent delivery to Syria where he was held for a year and tortured.

This afternoon, the Center for Constitutional Rights advised that following the Supreme Court's refusal, attorneys for Maher Arar disclosed for the first time that the RMCP (Royal Mounted Canadian Police) have been investigating the actions of both Syrian and U.S. officials for the past year. (Canada long ago apologized to Mr. Arar and paid him $ 9 million for having provided the U.S. with inaccurate information about him. The Obama Administration sided with the Bush Administration in Arar's lawsuit and refused to pay him anything or to conduct an investigation into the conduct of U.S. officials.) [More...]

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against Maher Arar in his extraordinary rendition and torture lawsuit against the Government. Arar, a Canadian, was detained at JFK, flown to Syria where he was tortured for almost a year, before being returned to Canada. The Canadian government found that Mr. Arar had no connection to terrorism and apologized to him. It also awarded him a multi-million-dollar settlement for its role in the mess. Not our government. Georgetown law professor David Cole, who argued the case, which was brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights says:

“This decision says that U.S. officials can intentionally send a man to be tortured abroad, bar him from any access to the courts while doing so, and then avoid any legal accountability thereafter. It effectively places executive officials above the law, even when accused of a conscious conspiracy to torture. If the rule of law means anything, it must mean that courts can hear the claim of an innocent man subjected to torture that violates our most basic constitutional commitments.”

The opinion is available here. The dissent, which begins on p. 61 of the 184 page opinion, is well worth reading. All of our Maher Arar coverage is accessible here.

Canadian rendition victim Maher Arar has been denied relief by the U.S. District Court in his lawsuit against the U.S. arising from his seizure at JFK airport and transfer to Syria where he was tortured for a year.

The Center for Constitutional Rights has the details.

Today, a federal Court of Appeals ruled against Center for Constitutional Rights client Maher Arar’s case against U.S. officials for their role in sending him to Syria to be tortured and interrogated for a year under the extraordinary rendition program.

Maher Arar is not available to comment in person, but is issuing the following statement: “The Court’s 2-1 ruling is outrageous. It basically legitimizes what was done to me, and permits the government to use immigration law as a disguise to send people to torture without regard for due process.”

All of our Maher Arar coverage (47 posts)is accessible here.

At last, a little bit of justice for Maher Arar.

The prime minister of Canada apologized Friday to Maher Arar and agreed to give $9 million in compensation to the Canadian Arab, who was spirited by U.S. agents to Syria and tortured there after being falsely named as a terrorism suspect.

Arar, 36, a former computer engineer who was detained while changing planes at a New York airport in 2002 and imprisoned in a Syrian dungeon for 10 months, said after the announcement that he "feels proud as a Canadian."