Outsourcing Torture

Maher Arar is a Canadian citizen. He came to Canada at the age of 17, finished his high school and went to McGill University where he met his sweetheart and future wife, Mona. After completing a master’s degree in telecommunications, he moved to Ottawa and found a job with a high-tech company. Later on, he started his own company during the dot.com boom days. He had a daughter and a son and was living the life of an ordinary law-abiding citizen in Canada until last year.

But Arar had two handicaps in the post 9/11 world that he did not realise until last year: One, that he was born in Syria and another that he was a Muslim with a hijabi wife. Last year, while holidaying in Tunis with his family, he received an email from a company that his services might be required by them. He cancelled his vacation and, leaving his family in Tunisia to complete their holiday, flew back to Canada. Using his frequent travel points, he took a flight, which routed him to Montreal via New York. That was a big mistake. While transiting at New York airport, he was held for questioning by the INS and then by the FBI. The FBI asked him several questions regarding any links with Al Qaeda. He asked for a lawyer but was told that he had no right to a lawyer since he was not an American. After lengthy questioning, he was
told that he would be deported and asked whether he would like to be deported to Canada or Syria? He told them that he wanted to be sent to Canada, which was his home. But he was told, without reason, that he will not be sent to Canada but to Syria, his country of birth.

Syrians were not keen to take Arar. So, his American "captors" tied him in chains, put him on a plane and flew him to Amman in Jordan. There, he was blindfolded and bundled into a van by eight burly men who beat him up in the van. If he asked any question he was beaten more by the Jordanians. Jordanians delivered him to the Syrians who put him in a dark cell 3 feet wide and 6 feet deep, which looked and felt like a grave. This was his home for the next year. There he was beaten daily by hand, fists and by a 3-inch electric cable. He was asked again and again to confess about being part of Al Qaeda and being trained in a camp in Afghanistan. He confessed to everything they wanted even though he had never visited Afghanistan, claims that he does not know anyone in Al Qaeda and does not know anything more about them then he has read in the news reports. While he was allowed to see someone from the Canadian consular office, it was always in the presence of his Syrian tormentors so he could not tell them freely about his ordeal in the prison.

In the meantime, his wife worked tirelessly with human rights activists and politicians in Canada to get justice for her husband. The Canadian police and secret service agencies had provided the FBI with the information that was the basis of his nightmare. After constant efforts by his wife for over one year and pressure by the Canadian media and opposition, Mr. Arar was finally released last month from his Syrian prison and reunited with his family. When he was free to speak up his mind in Canada, Mr. Arar made the following statement:

“I am here today to tell the people of Canada what has happened to me. There have been many allegations made about me in the media, all of them by people who refuse to be named or come forward. So before I tell you who I am and what happened to me, I will tell you who I am not. I am not a terrorist. I am not a member of al-Qaeda and I do not know anyone who belongs to this group. All I know about al-Qaeda is what I have seen in the media. I have never been to Afghanistan. I have never been anywhere near Afghanistan and I do not have any desire to ever go to Afghanistan.

So, why was Mr. Ararn arrested and deported to Syria? While all the facts are not yet known, it seems that he had at one time in his life shared room with someone who is on the suspected list of Al Qaeda supporters. How this information came in the possession of FBI is the subject of much speculation, but it is clear that it could only have come from Canadian agencies who must have provided the same to the FBI in contravention of the Canadian privacy laws. And why was he sent to Syria when he was a Canadian citizen living in Canada and wanted to be sent home? It is obvious that the reason was that neither the Canadian nor the American laws would permit the kind of interrogation techniques that the Americans wanted Mr. Arar to be subjected to. So, this job was “outsourced” to the country with the proven expertise to handle the job.

I too was born in a Muslim country. Should I carefully try to recall who I came in contact with during my 35-year stay in Canada and be careful not to transit through an American airport?