Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) Demands Release of Entire Unredacted OIG Report Regarding Rendition and Torture Victim Maher Arar
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 4, 2008
2:47 PM
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CONTACT: Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR)
Jen Nessel, 212.614.6449,
jnessel@ccrjustice.org |
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CCR Demands Release of Entire Unredacted OIG Report Regarding Rendition and Torture Victim Maher Arar
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WASHINGTON, DC - June 4 - On Thursday, two House of Representatives Subcommittees will be hearing testimony from the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General on the rendition of Maher Arar, the Canadian citizen sent by the United States to be tortured in Syria more than five years ago.
The hearing will focus on the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) report on the processes used to send Mr. Arar to Syria, which the office has so far refused to release to the public – instead, in March of this year, it released an unclassified one-page summary with no new information. Some portion of the Report is now supposed to be released at the conclusion of tomorrow’s hearing. According to an article in Harper’s magazine, the release of the Report has been delayed by the efforts of senior government officials because it exposes “serious misconduct.”
The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which represents Maher in a case against high-level U.S. officials calls again for the release of the entire unredacted OIG report.
“More than five years have passed since our government sent Maher to Syria to be tortured, and almost two years since the Canadian government issued its 1,200-page report on the role of Canadian officials in what was done to Maher,” said CCR Senior Attorney Maria LaHood. “It is high time the Inspector General reveal his full findings on the actions of U.S. government officials so they may begin to be held accountable.”
For more information on CCR’s case Arar v. Ashcroft, please go here. Maria LaHood will be present at the hearing and available for interviews.
What: Joint hearing on Maher Arar with the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight and the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, “U.S. Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Report OIG-08-18: The Removal of a Canadian Citizen to Syria”
Who: Chairs of the Subcommittees: Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass) and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)
Witnesses: Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner and former Inspector General Clark Kent Ervin
CCR attorney Maria LaHood, who represents Mr. Arar, will be present and available for interviews
When: Thursday, June 5, 2008
10:30 a.m.
Where: Rayburn House Office Building
Room 2141
Washington, D.C.
The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements in the South, CCR is a non-profit legal and educational organization committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.
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