Another article on Benamar Benatta

It will be interesting to see if Benatta's case is investigated by the Iacobucci inqiry. The terms of reference refer only to three other cases and all involve Syria, none the US. However, the case does involve what seem to be inappropriate action by Canadian authorities.

Algerian beaten in U.S. custody
By: Reuel S. Amdur / The Arab American News
2007-03-31

Benamar Benatta is asking for standing at the Commission of Inquiry headed by Judge Frank Iacobucci. The commission is looking into Canada's possible role in the mistreatment of three Muslim men in Syria and Egypt, a project strongly recommended in the report of the Arar judicial inquiry.

Bematta's story does not involve Syria or Egypt. He claims to have been beaten and otherwise mistreated while in American custody, having spent close to five years in the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center. His misadventures began back in his native Algeria.

Benatta was an air force lieutenant who says he was jailed for refusing to take part in brutalizing civilians. When released, he was sent to the United States for training on aviation electronic equipment. Rather than return to Algeria, he made his way to Canada, where he was put in an immigration holding center, just before 9/11.

Shortly after, he was returned to the United States, willingly according to the Canadian government, but otherwise according to Benatta. Canadian officials acknowledge sheepishly that they have lost the documentation on his return to American soil.

Once he was cleared by the FBI of terrorism-related suspicions, he was allowed to return to Canada, where he is pursuing a refugee claim and living in Toronto.