First Blog

I am new at this. I will post mostly on political topics of the day.

I am waiting to hear more news on the inquiry into the jailing and torture of three Canadians in a Syrian jail. The inquiry is subsequent to the Maher Arar inquiry. Arar was deported by the US to Syria after he was arrested in New York on his way to Canada. The inquiry cleared him of any terrorist connections. The new inquiry will determine whether there was any Canadian involvement in assuring that Abdul Almalki and two other Canadian citizens were arrested based on Canadian information and whether the Canadian consular officials acted appropriately. From what I have read it seems clear that the Canadian authorities use what might be called rendition lite. They do not directly arrest and deport targets to be tortured but take advantage of the fact that targets are in Syria to have them arrested and interrogated by Syrian intelligence. They then provide questions and share information mutually with Syrian authorities.