WASHINGTON — Human rights lawyers in the United States, calling the deportation and subsequent torture of Syrian-Canadian Maher Arar a "legal and moral outrage," have formally asked Attorney-General John Ashcroft for a criminal probe into U.S. involvement in the case.

The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights also delivered letters to senate and congressional intelligence oversight committees, asking for hearings in the case of the Ottawa man U.S. authorities deported to Syria.

Arar told Canadian reporters last week he was held 10 months in a Syrian jail, was beaten and forced to sign a false confession during his incarceration in what he called his "grave."

His case spotlights the U.S. practice of "rendition," which critics have likened to Washington subcontracting torture.

Critics here maintain Washington knew Arar faced torture in Syria and say his case is just the most widely publicized of many in which the Bush administration is complicit in illegal treatment of prisoners by sending terrorist suspects to nations where they know violent interrogation is used.

The CIA has conceded the practice of rendition has been in effect since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"The practice of rendering cannot and must not be allowed to continue," Jeffrey E. Fogel, legal director of the rights centre, says in the letter to Ashcroft. "It is against every value this country is supposed to embody."

The letter says deporting Arar contravened a section of the international Convention Against Torture, to which the United States is a signatory.

No justice department official was available to respond to the letter yesterday, a U.S. government holiday.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has promised to deliver more details to Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham "if and when ... available.''

Ashcroft is to meet Solicitor-General Wayne Easter here next week and Arar's case is sure to be on the agenda.

The Syrian-born Canadian citizen was detained Sept. 26, 2002, during a stopover in New York on his way home to Canada after a holiday in Tunisia. U.S. authorities had accused him of links to Al Qaeda, a charge he denies.

U.S. authorities deported him despite his warning that he faced torture. Syria freed him last month, saying there was no basis for charges. Arar believes data from Canadian enforcement agencies led the U.S. to deport him.

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