Probe: Canada gave U.S. misleading data

Via SeattlePI.com

TORONTO — An inquiry into the U.S. transfer of a Canadian citizen
to prison in Syria found Canadian authorities gave misleading
information to the Americans that likely led to the deportation, a
report released Monday said.

After his release in 2003,
Syrian-born Maher Arar made detailed allegations about extensive
interrogation, beatings and whippings with electrical cable in Syrian
prison cells.

Arar was traveling on a Canadian passport when
he was detained at a New York airport in September 2002 during a
stopover on his way home to Canada from vacation in Tunisia. He claims
he was a victim of extraordinary rendition – or the transfer of foreign
terror suspects to third countries without court approval.

Arar
said U.S. authorities sent him to Syria for interrogation on suspicion
of being a member of al-Qaida, an allegation he denied.

Canada’s
federal government established an inquiry in 2004 to determine the role
Canadian officials played in the case of Arar, who has been cleared of
any terrorist connections.

Justice Dennis O’Connor released
the report on Arar that concluded the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
passed misleading, inaccurate and unfair information to U.S.
authorities that “very likely” led to their decision to send Arar to
Syria, but found no evidence Canadian officials participated in or
agreed to the decision.

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