Report: Arar deported despite concerns he would be tortured.

This report manages to point out a few of the problems with the deportation of Arar to Syria but in the end it is a farcical whitewash in concluding that nothing was done wrong or illegally.
The report concludes:
Skinner's 52-page review of Arar's case was completed in March but only released publicly Thursday. The report says "it does not appear" that Immigration and Naturalization Services personnel violated any "then-existing" law in the removal of Arar to Syria.

It seems that Skinner may actually realise the farcical nature of his findings and is deflecting attention from this fact by renewing his investigation on the basis of new information that the FBI may actually have known that Arar would be tortured in Syria. More farce. Everyone knows that people are tortured in Syria. Everyone except Skinner knows as well that the U.S. has a policy of rendition in which suspects are deliberately sent to countries such as Syria in order that ïnformation" will be extracted through torture. No wonder this report's release was delayed so long. Maybe some in the administration are not completely clueless and worried about its reception.
The report doesn't seem to recognise that the alleged facts used to establish that Arar was an Al Qaeda agent have long been shown to be bogus by an extensive investigation in a Canadian inquiry. To be fair the ïnformation"or most of it came from Canadian intelligence but was completely unverified or even sorted for relevance and with no caveats. Of course no one was ever punished in Canada although the head of the RCMP resigned because he contradicted his own testimony even after expensive tutoring in how to testify paid for by the Canadian taxpayer.


Thursday » June 5 » 2008

Arar deported despite concerns he would be tortured: U.S. report

Sheldon Alberts
Canwest News Service
Thursday, June 05, 2008
CREDIT: Jean Levac/Ottawa Citizen
Maher Arar was released without charges and returned to Canada after spending nearly a year in a Syrian prison.
WASHINGTON - United States immigration officials who detained Canadian engineer Maher Arar in 2002 concluded his deportation to Syria would "more likely than not result in his torture," but removed him anyway despite receiving "ambiguous" assurances of his safety, according to a new U.S. government report into the case.
An investigation led by Richard Skinner, the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general, also found Arar's removal hearing was held under "questionable" circumstances late on a Sunday evening when lawyers for the Canadian citizen could not attend.
"The INS concluded that Arar was entitled to protection from torture and that returning him to Syria would more likely than not result in his torture," the report said.
What's unclear from the report - because those portions were heavily redacted - is the nature of assurances given to the INS that Arar would not be tortured. The report said those assurances are normally obtained through the State Department.
"However, the validity of the assurances to protect Arar does not appear to have been examined," the report said.
In testimony Thursday before a congressional committee, Skinner said he could not determine the U.S. government's rationale for sending Arar to Syria.
"The assurances upon which INS based Arar's removal were ambiguous regarding the source or authority purporting to bind the Syrian government."
Asked if immigration proceedings against Arar were rushed to ensure he did not have legal representation present to challenge his removal to Syria, Skinner replied: "That certainly appears to be the case."
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, chairman of the House subcommittee on constitution, civil rights and civil liberties, said the report shows the Bush administration "knowingly violated the obligations" the United States has under the UN Convention Against Torture.
"This case, and the rendition policy generally, gets more disturbing with each bit of information we obtain," Nadler said.
Just as the House subcommittee began a day-long hearing into the report, Skinner stunned lawmakers by announcing he was re-opening his investigation of U.S. government actions against Arar.
"Less than a month ago, we received additional information that contradicts one of the conclusions in our report," he testified. "As such, we are in the process of conducting additional interviews to determine the validity of this information to the extent we can."
Skinner's 52-page review of Arar's case was completed in March but only released publicly Thursday. The report says "it does not appear" that Immigration and Naturalization Services personnel violated any "then-existing" law in the removal of Arar to Syria.
The INS was able to conduct "peculiar removal proceedings" because of broad latitude under U.S. counterterrorism laws, it said.
But the report does criticize the U.S. for failing to give Arar a reasonable amount of time to "comprehend and respond" to allegations he had ties to al-Qaida.
Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian, was detained in New York's Kennedy Airport while returning to Canada from a vacation on Sept. 26, 2002.
He was labeled an Islamic extremist, based on information supplied to the U.S. by Canadian authorities, and deported to Syria, where he was jailed and tortured for almost a year.
In 2007, Arar received a $10.5-million compensation package from the Canadian government after an inquiry into the matter concluded his deportation was likely triggered by false information passed on by the RCMP.
The U.S. government has not removed him from its terrorist watch lists.
In his review of U.S. actions, Skinner found INS officials properly deemed Arar inadmissible based on "the derogatory information" it had received about his background.
Arar was notified on Oct. 1, 2002, that he would be removed from the United States, and was given five days to respond.
But the inspector general's report found the circumstances of Arar's detention - in the most restrictive unit of a maximum security jail in Brooklyn - "contributed to his difficulties in obtaining legal counsel and advice on his immigration case."
Arar initially declined an offer to contact Canadian officials on Sept. 26, 2002.
He asked a day later to contact Canada's consulate. The "request was denied" because New York's joint terrorism task force "was concerned that an outside phone call might jeopardize the investigation of Arar."
Arar was only able to meet with a Canadian consular official on Oct. 3 - a week after his detention - and an immigration attorney on Oct. 5, three days before his removal.
"Given the seriousness of the charges, the intent to remove him to Syria, and his highly restrictive detention conditions at (the Brooklyn jail), we question the reasonableness of the length of time he was given to comprehend and respond to the charges against him and his ability to obtain counsel," the report said.
"Arar was in a maximum security detention facility and, as such, was virtually incapable of harming national security or public safety and had very limited opportunities to communicate with anyone."
The decision to remove Arar to Syria was made by the INS in consultations with attorneys from the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, the report said.
They denied Arar's request to return to Canada because of concerns "the porous nature of the U.S.-Canadian border would enable Arar to easily return to the United States."
After Arar expressed fears about being sent to Syria, the INS conducted a review examining the dangers he faced.
But officials scheduled the hearing at an odd time, on late Sunday, Oct. 6.
INS lawyers attempted to reach an immigration and criminal attorney for Arar at their offices at 5 p.m. for a 9 p.m. hearing. Neither could attend.
"The method of the notification of the interview to Arar's attorneys and the notification's proximity to the time of the interview were questionable," the report said.
Rep. Bill Delahunt, a Massachusetts Democrats, said he planned to press for a special prosecutor to investigate Arar's case because the Homeland Security report leaves too many questions unanswered.
"This is a gross embarrassment to the people of the United States and to this institution," Delahunt said.
Maria Lahood, Arar's New York-based lawyer, said a special prosecutor was "absolutely necessary" to determine if there U.S. officials
"This is an interesting first step in holding the officials accountable, but we really need is a truly independent investigation and the possibility of criminal prosecutions," said Lahood.
With files from Arielle Godbout (Canwest News Service)
© Canwest News Service 2008

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