Twitter
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Delicious
Digg
Newsvine
Google
Yahoo
TechnoratiUS Court Denies Maher Arar's Appeal
Syrian-born Canadian Maher Arar has again been denied the right to sue the United States over his deportation to Syria, where he was tortured.
![[Maher Arar pauses during a news conference in Ottawa December 12, 2006. (REUTERS/Chris Wattie)]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/maherararcan'tsue.jpg "maherararcan'tsue.jpg")
During a September 2002 stopover in New York, while returning to Canada from a vacation in Tunisia, Arar was detained by U.S authorities, who were acting on information from Canadian security officials. Based on the erroneous Canadian information that Arar had links to al-Qaeda, the U.S. deported him to Syria, even though he was carrying a Canadian passport.
When Arar returned to Canada more than a year later, he said he had been tortured during his incarceration and accused American officials of sending him to Syria knowing that authorities there use torture.
In New York on Monday, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 7-4 against Arar. He had asked the court to overturn a decision of the U.S. District Court - Eastern District of New York, which had dismissed his suit against dozens of U.S. government officials, including former attorney-general John Ashcroft and former homeland security secretary Tom Ridge.
The New York City-based Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents Arar, said its attorneys could not immediately comment as they had not seen the ruling.
10 Comments so far
Show All'We never make mistakes' was the mantra of what notorious intelligence service? It's now the United States' mantra, and evidently Obama's.
"We never make mistakes' was the mantra of what notorious intelligence service? It's now the United States' mantra, and evidently Obama's.'
I think the full quote is, "We never make mistakes, we bury them."
At least Arar's is free now. I know what he went through was horrible and unconstitutional. My heart aches for all the Muslim men who have had to suffer the fear of the People of America who voted for the government officials when on the jury of a Muslim defendant. My friend received a 22 year sentence for being a national security risk due to his violation of the economic sanctions against Iraq.He got food, medicine and farm animals to the destitute in Iraq. He recently had his appeal denied. The government added all sorts of bogus charges that confused the jury as they confused most of the people in the courtroom. At least when the Japanese were sent to internment camps during world war II they were not imprisoned for 22 years which may well be a lifetime for my friend.They said that he kept some of the charity money but that was never proved beyond a reasonable doubt.The(donors) government's witnesses said they still trusted him.
Usually, the tought that you can sue the employee and the boss, when the boss is the government, is considered delusional.
Several years ago, the representative of the AG's office said, regarding Arar's case, that the United States has the right to detain and arrest anybody, visiting or in transit. That it did not need to present any proof or warrant. That the person had no constitutional rights whatsoever and that the United States was not even required to feed said prisoner. That there was no regulation forcing the US to notify any relative or business and that they could incarcerate or dispatch the prisoner as they wished.
It has all been cleared up in Canada as a malfeasance of government and the RCMP and Arar has been found innocent. The United States says that as far as they are concerned Arar is a terrorist and will be arrested as such (and probably renditioned) if he ever sets foot in the United States again.
Remember, the United States is always right. Anybody they pick up, for any reason, is a terrorist by default. He can be put away for life with no trial, no evidence, simply because the United States picked him up, which makes him guilty. No international court, or the courts of his own country have any input into this.
Were I a foreign national, especially if I looked to be of Middle Eastern heritage, there is no way I would travel to, or across the United States. I would take no flight that required a fuel stop or layover at an American airport.
I can see a day when conditions will be similar to that in the movie "Casablanca" where people will kill for letters of transit so they can get to safety. Both Americans and the foreign born.
I am a foreign national (Canadian) and I will take no flight that is expected to pass through U.S. airspace. All such flights originating in Canada must report their passenger lists to Homeland Security before being permitted to take off. The U.S. reserves the right to force any commercial airliner in its airspace to land on U.S. soil, and to detain or render any passenger.
The United States, by any legal definition, is a criminal country with respect to this case (extrapolate as far as you wish). The U.S. will never regain any semblance of credibility until it cleanses itself of the many crimes of the past, and the present . . . . .
Is this man even yet allowed to enter the US? He was denied entrance under the Bush Administration.
sorry for multiple hits
Obama says we should all just let bygones be bygones, and look forwards not backwards...torturers are people with feelings too ya know!
Of course, Charles Manson says the same thing....
"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing, to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." - John Keats