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TechnoratiMiscarriage of Justice
A Canadian mistakenly caught up in the U.S. war on terror deserves his day in court, and an apology.
Maher Arar, the Canadian software engineer who was mistakenly expelled by the United States and imprisoned in Syria, may yet have his day in court. A federal appeals court in New York has scheduled a new hearing on whether Arar can sue U.S. officials who participated in one of the worst injustices of the so-called war on terror.
In 2002, Arar was seized by U.S. agents at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on the basis of inaccurate information provided by Canadian police linking him to terrorists. He was flown to Jordan and then sent to his native Syria, where he was imprisoned and, Arar says, tortured for a year before being released. The Canadian government apologized to Arar and paid him almost $10 million in compensation for his ordeal. The U.S. response, however, has been shamefully grudging.
The Department of Homeland Security's inspector general has said that the Justice Department is investigating Arar's deportation to Syria, and members of Congress have offered their apologies. But the closest the Bush administration has come to an apology was Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's concession last year that Arar's case wasn't "handled particularly well." Even after his exoneration by Canada, the administration kept Arar on a terrorist watch list on the basis of unspecified information that, according to Canada's prime minister, contained "nothing new." Finally, the administration has contested Arar's suit against the U.S. government and several current and former officials -- litigation that would be unnecessary if the administration had owned up to the injustice perpetrated against an innocent man.
The administration's truculence leaves it to the courts, not for the first time, to temper post-9/11 zealotry with a concern for civil liberties and simple humanity. In an unusual step, the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals -- without prompting from Arar's lawyers -- has agreed to review a three-judge panel's ruling that Arar could not sue the government. The panel had held that a trial of Arar's claims might expose sensitive national security matters and that, because he had not been legally admitted to the United States and was simply changing planes, he had no constitutional rights.
As welcome as the appeals court's action is, the better resolution would be for the United States to follow Canada's lead in formally apologizing to Arar and compensating him. The administration's failure to do so seems to stem from a reluctance to repudiate its policy of transferring suspected terrorists to foreign countries. The next president, who will have no stake in this miscarriage of justice, should quickly rectify it.
Copyright 2008 Los Angeles Times
6 Comments so far
Show AllDon't think it always happens to someone else, to some foreigner (which Americans ignorantly call aliens), or to someone you don't care about (like someone of middle eastern descent). Some day it will happen to someone you know, a friend, a relative, or maybe even you.
The evil of the American government is similar to the evil of past empires. It is unable to correct itself. Any fool can see that it is on a course of pushing the patience of the rest of the world beyond the breaking point.
Shame on us.
" the better resolution would be for the United States to follow Canada's lead in formally apologizing to Arar and compensating him."
This seems the simplest thing to do.
These men are fortunate indeed that Arar is a more tolerant man than I..... and believes that justice is achievable within the system...... He would be well justified if he literally hunted these men down one by one and dispensed his own justice... a justice they deserve! There MUST BE CONSEQUENCES for abuse that takes place "within the framework of the law"...... and those consequences must be significant and severe. Our law enforcements agencies MUST be held to the letter of the law..... or they are no better than those "outside the law". There is nothing worse than abuse and crime under the umbrella of the law...... as there is little if any recourse and these men will close ranks and prevent justice from taking place..... at every opportunity.
Howard
"The panel had held that a trial of Arar's claims might expose sensitive national security matters and that, because he had not been legally admitted to the United States and was simply changing planes, he had no constitutional rights."
ok... two very serious things in that one sentence. First, the "sensitive national security matters" are nothing more than a fancy way of saying "US Government Crimes". If Arar successfully forces a trial, the whole "extraordinary rendition" program will be exposed to the public light, and seen as the criminal kidnapping and torture program that it is.
The second thing is, by "changing planes" in the United States, you have NO constitutional rights. Therefore, the US government can do anything they want to you. So remember, next time you're flying somewhere with a stopover in the US, you have NO protection under the law from unwarranted prosecution.
I've said this before, but I'll say it again, DON'T CHANGE PLANES IN THE US. Fly directly to Canada if possible. If you can't get a direct flight from wherever you are to Canada, change flights in the UK instead of the US. Most of all, boycott any and all US Airlines as they are complicit in the lawless treatment of passengers by the US government.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's concession last year that Arar's case wasn't "handled particularly well."
Translation: "Shit, he survived!"