Canada investigating US officials over tortureThe Raw Story: Canada's Mounties have been quietly running an investigation into US and Syrian officials linked to the arrest and deportation of a Canadian citizen who was tortured in a Syrian prison, and could lay criminal charges in the matter...
The news [came] the same day that the US Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal brought by Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian engineer who was detained at New York's JFK airport in 2002 on suspicion of terrorist links and flown to Syria, where he was tortured for the better part of a year... An inquiry into the matter held by the Canadian government exonerated Arar... in 2007 Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized to Arar and offered him a $10.5 million settlement...
'The US should be conducting its own criminal investigation of the officials responsible... not covering for them,' attorney Maria LeHood of the Center for Constitutional rights said in a statement. 'Again the Canadians are doing the right thing.'
The Toronto Star: In a prepared statement, Arar said the U.S. high court's decision 'eliminates my last bit of hope in the judicial system of the United States. 'When it comes to 'national security' matters the judicial system has willingly abandoned its sacred role of ensuring that no one is above the law.'...
The decision to shift the investigation overseas... takes the RCMP down a legal road not widely traveled. Human rights activists note that only the governments of Spain and Italy have pursued terror-related criminal investigations beyond their borders involving American officials. 'It takes some amount of courage to stand up to the U.S. government and I give the RCMP full credit for that,' said LaHood...
[Arar's Canadian lawyer Paul] Champ said 'Charges would be followed by the issuing of warrants, which go then to Interpol. And if the individuals names enter any country that respects those warrants -- and that is most countries -- they would be arrested... This is not over. Mr. Arar's quest for accountability and justice has not come to an end.'
