US Justice Dept. Should Formally Apologize to Maher Arar and end Extraordinary Rendition
In 2002, Canadian Maher Arar was detained on a routine airport stopover in the United States. He ended up in Syria, where he was imprisoned and tortured for 10 months. In late September (2006), a public inquiry (in which the US government refused to participate) cleared Mr. Arar of any connection to terrorism and criticised the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) for feeding American officials misleading information about him.
Recently, a bipartisan group of Congress members personally apologized to Mr. Arar after he testified last week before a House panel. This was the first time that he had a chance to tell his story to U.S. lawmakers. However, the Congress members could not apology to him in person because even though the Canadian government has cleared his name, Maher Arar remains barred from the U.S. because the Bush administration says he poses a national security threat.
To date, the US Justice Department has not apologized to Mr. Arar for his false imprisonment and torture. In fact, when Maher Arar filed a lawsuit in US court for false imprisonment the court dismissed his case on the grounds of "national security". Mr. Arar deserves a formal apology from the US Dept. of Justice and to have his good name restored.
If you agree that the Justice Dept. should formally apologize to Maher Arar and end the practice of extraordinary rendition, please sign this petition
This should have never happened in America and should never happen again.
Thank you
In 2002, Canadian Maher Arar was detained on a routine airport stopover in the United States. He ended up in Syria, where he was imprisoned and tortured for 10 months. In late September (2006), a public inquiry (in which the US government refused to participate) cleared Mr. Arar of any connection to terrorism and criticised the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) for feeding American officials misleading information about him.
Recently, a bipartisan group of Congress members personally apologized to Mr. Arar after he testified before a House panel. This was the first time that he had a chance to tell his story to U.S. lawmakers. However, the Congress members could not apology to him in person because even though the Canadian government has cleared his name, Maher Arar remains barred from the U.S. because the Bush administration says he poses a national security threat.
We, the undersigned, ask that unless there is clear and substantiated evidence that Maher Arar poses a terrorist threat to the United States of American that the US Justice Department formally apologize to Mr. Arar for his false imprisonment and torture, as well as, the hardship caused to his family.
Thank you
