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Maher Arar speaks
Nov. 5th, 2003 01:41 pmMaher Arar is a Canadian citizen who was born in Syria but moved to Canada at age 17 (about fifteen years ago). Last year, while holidaying with his wife and child in Tunis, he was called back to work and booked tickets back to Montreal, with a change of flights in New York.
In New York he was detained by immigration and FBI officials for nearly two weeks of interrogation before being forcibly deported to Syria, despite his protestations that he would be tortured there. This is exactly what happened.
After nearly a year of imprisonment and beatings, Arar was finally returned to Canada. His account of these events can be found here.
And this is why some of us don't want to see police given more and more intrusive powers in the name of "anti-terrorist measures", thank you very much. We've already seen how capable they are of abusing the existing ones.
In New York he was detained by immigration and FBI officials for nearly two weeks of interrogation before being forcibly deported to Syria, despite his protestations that he would be tortured there. This is exactly what happened.
After nearly a year of imprisonment and beatings, Arar was finally returned to Canada. His account of these events can be found here.
And this is why some of us don't want to see police given more and more intrusive powers in the name of "anti-terrorist measures", thank you very much. We've already seen how capable they are of abusing the existing ones.
