www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/world/americas/19canada.html
ca) The report on the engineer, Maher Arar, said American officials had apparently acted on inaccurate information from Canadian investigators and then misled Canadian authorities about their plans for Mr Arar before transporting him to Syria. I am able to say categorically that there is no evidence to indicate that Mr Arar has committed any offense or that his activities constituted a threat to the security of Canada, Justice Dennis R OConnor, head of the commission, said at a news conference.
The reports criticisms and recommendations are aimed primarily at Canadas own government and activities, rather than the United States government, which refused to cooperate in the inquiry. But its conclusions about a case that had emerged as one of the most infamous examples of rendition the transfer of terrorism suspects to other nations for interrogation draw new attention to the Bush administrations handling of detainees. And it comes as the White House and Congress are contesting legislation that would set standards for the treatment and interrogation of prisoners. The American authorities who handled Mr Arars case treated Mr Arar in a most regrettable fashion, Justice OConnor wrote in a three-volume report, not all of which was made public. They removed him to Syria against his wishes and in the face of his statements that he would be tortured if sent there. Moreover, they dealt with Canadian officials involved with Mr Arars case in a less than forthcoming manner.
United States Justice Department, Charles Miller, and a White House spokesman traveling with President Bush in New York said officials had not seen the report and could not comment. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canada planned to act on the report but offered no details. Probably in the few weeks to come well be able to give you more details on that, he told reporters.
He was freed in October 2003, after Syrian officials concluded that he had no connection to terrorism and returned him to Canada. Mr Arars case attracted considerable attention in Canada, where critics viewed it as an example of the excesses of the campaign against terror that followed the Sept. The practice of rendition has caused an outcry from human rights organizations as outsourcing torture, because suspects often have been taken to countries where brutal treatment of prisoners is routine. The commission supports that view, describing a Mounted Police force that was ill-prepared to assume the intelligence duties assigned to it after the Sept. Mr Arar, speaking at a news conference, praised the findings. Today Justice OConnor has cleared my name and restored my reputation, he said. I call on the government of Canada to accept the findings of this report and hold these people responsible. His lawyer, Marlys Edwardh, said the report affirmed that Mr Arar, who has been unemployed since his return to Canada, was deported and tortured because of a breathtakingly incompetent investigation. The commission found that Mr Arar first came to police attention on Oct. Mr Arar has said in interviews that the meeting at Mangos Cafe in Ottawa, and a subsequent 20-minute conversation outside the restaurant, was mostly about finding inexpensive ink jet printer cartridges. After finding Mr Almalki listed as an emergency contact, they stepped up their investigation of Mr Arar. At the end of that month, the police asked customs officials to include Mr Arar and his wife on a terrorist lookout list, which would subject them to more intensive question when re-entering Canada.
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