
U.S. judge dismisses Arar lawsuit Canadian Press \|\| February 22, 2006 Related - Canada may be complicit in torture, report says Judge says he can’t interfere in the case because it’s a matter of national security WASHINGTON — A U.S. federal judge has dismissed Maher Arar’s lawsuit against American officials claiming he was deported to Syria as a terrorism suspect to be tortured. In a ruling Thursday in New York, Judge David Trager said he can’t interfere in the case because it involves crucial national security and foreign relations issues in the anti-terror fight. “The need for much secrecy can hardly be doubted,” Trager wrote in his 88-page ruling. “One need not have much imagination to contemplate the negative effect on our relations with Canada if discovery were to proceed in this case and were it to turn out that certain high Canadian officials had, despite public denials, acquiesced in Arar’s removal to Syria.” He also noted Congress has yet to take a position on court reviews of cases like Arar’s, saying judges should be “hesitant” to hold officials liable for damages without “explicit direction” from legislators, “even if such conduct violates our treaty obligations or customary international law.” In Ottawa, Arar called the decision “very disappointing, emotionally very hard to digest.” “I was not expecting the judge to dismiss the entire case. I was hoping that he could let at least part of it proceed to discovery,” he said. “It is giving the green light to the Bush administration and the CIA to continue with their practice of rendition. “Basically they’re telling people . . . if you’re ever wronged by our politicians or intelligence people, you are on your own, good luck.” The Center for Constitutional Rights launched the lawsuit on Arar’s behalf in January 2004 against former attorney general John Ashcroft and other U.S. officials, seeking undisclosed damages. Article Posted at www.KnowledgeDrivenRevolution.com The case is believed to be the first to challenge the U.S. government’s policy of extraordinary rendition, where suspects are transferred to third countries without court approval. Arar claimed his rights under the U.S. constitution were violated. He says he was tortured during a 13-day detention at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport in the fall of 2002 and during 10 months in a Syrian jail, where he was forced to make false confessions of terrorist activity. He was released in 2003. Trager rejected Arar’s suit but said he could resubmit his claim that he was denied due process while held in the U.S. because of ``the circumstances and conditions of confinement.” He must specifically name the authorities who allegedly infringed his rights and outline how he suffered by not having access to a lawyer when he was detained, said Trager. “This ruling sets a frightening precedent,” said Maria LaHood, Arar’s lawyer. “To allow the Bush administration to continue to evade accountability and continue to hide behind the smokescreen of national security is to do grave and irreparable damage to the constitution and the guarantee of human rights that people in this country could once be proud of,” she said. Barbara Olshansky, the centre’s deputy legal director, called it a ``dark day.” “We will not accept this decision and are committed to continuing our campaign to obtain the truth about what happened.” The U.S. government argued last year the case should be dismissed because it would involve revealing classified information that supposedly linked Arar to Al Qaeda and justified sending him to Syria instead of Canada. Arar, who holds dual Syrian-Canadian citizenship, was travelling on a Canadian passport when he was detained in New York on a stopover en route to Montreal. Canada is conducting a public inquiry into the role Canadian authorities played in the case. Arar said he had not yet decided whether to appeal the decision. “One thing I can tell you is, I will never give up,” said Arar. ``Whether it’s appealing, or going to the UN or something else, I don’t know at this point. But I’ll let this go like that, never.” Meanwhile, Arar’s lawsuit in Canada is still before the courts. He hopes the commission of inquiry in Canada will shed more light on what happened to him. The inquiry, headed by Justice Dennis O’Connor, is expected to issue preliminary findings this spring. About KDR \| \| Home \| \| Weekly Features Archive	Weekly Weekly Features Archive
In Depth The Number 1 Reason YOU became a Slave Knowledge Driven Look at Your Favourite Canadian Political Parties
Archive December January February 2006 29 30 31 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 01 02 03 04 Weekly Features

U.S. judge dismisses Arar lawsuit

Canadian Press || February 22, 2006

Related - Canada may be complicit in torture, report says

Judge says he can’t interfere in the case because it’s a matter of national security

WASHINGTON — A U.S. federal judge has dismissed Maher Arar’s lawsuit against American officials claiming he was deported to Syria as a terrorism suspect to be tortured.

In a ruling Thursday in New York, Judge David Trager said he can’t interfere in the case because it involves crucial national security and foreign relations issues in the anti-terror fight.

“The need for much secrecy can hardly be doubted,” Trager wrote in his 88-page ruling.

“One need not have much imagination to contemplate the negative effect on our relations with Canada if discovery were to proceed in this case and were it to turn out that certain high Canadian officials had, despite public denials, acquiesced in Arar’s removal to Syria.”

He also noted Congress has yet to take a position on court reviews of cases like Arar’s, saying judges should be “hesitant” to hold officials liable for damages without “explicit direction” from legislators, “even if such conduct violates our treaty obligations or customary international law.”

In Ottawa, Arar called the decision “very disappointing, emotionally very hard to digest.”

“I was not expecting the judge to dismiss the entire case. I was hoping that he could let at least part of it proceed to discovery,” he said.

“It is giving the green light to the Bush administration and the CIA to continue with their practice of rendition.

“Basically they’re telling people . . . if you’re ever wronged by our politicians or intelligence people, you are on your own, good luck.”

The Center for Constitutional Rights launched the lawsuit on Arar’s behalf in January 2004 against former attorney general John Ashcroft and other U.S. officials, seeking undisclosed damages.

Article Posted at www.KnowledgeDrivenRevolution.com

The case is believed to be the first to challenge the U.S. government’s policy of extraordinary rendition, where suspects are transferred to third countries without court approval.

Arar claimed his rights under the U.S. constitution were violated. He says he was tortured during a 13-day detention at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport in the fall of 2002 and during 10 months in a Syrian jail, where he was forced to make false confessions of terrorist activity. He was released in 2003.

Trager rejected Arar’s suit but said he could resubmit his claim that he was denied due process while held in the U.S. because of ``the circumstances and conditions of confinement.”

He must specifically name the authorities who allegedly infringed his rights and outline how he suffered by not having access to a lawyer when he was detained, said Trager.

“This ruling sets a frightening precedent,” said Maria LaHood, Arar’s lawyer.

“To allow the Bush administration to continue to evade accountability and continue to hide behind the smokescreen of national security is to do grave and irreparable damage to the constitution and the guarantee of human rights that people in this country could once be proud of,” she said.

Barbara Olshansky, the centre’s deputy legal director, called it a ``dark day.”

“We will not accept this decision and are committed to continuing our campaign to obtain the truth about what happened.”

The U.S. government argued last year the case should be dismissed because it would involve revealing classified information that supposedly linked Arar to Al Qaeda and justified sending him to Syria instead of Canada.

Arar, who holds dual Syrian-Canadian citizenship, was travelling on a Canadian passport when he was detained in New York on a stopover en route to Montreal.

Canada is conducting a public inquiry into the role Canadian authorities played in the case.

Arar said he had not yet decided whether to appeal the decision.

“One thing I can tell you is, I will never give up,” said Arar. ``Whether it’s appealing, or going to the UN or something else, I don’t know at this point. But I’ll let this go like that, never.”

Meanwhile, Arar’s lawsuit in Canada is still before the courts. He hopes the commission of inquiry in Canada will shed more light on what happened to him. The inquiry, headed by Justice Dennis O’Connor, is expected to issue preliminary findings this spring.

About KDR | | Home | | Weekly Features Archive

Weekly

Weekly Features Archive

In Depth

The Number 1 Reason YOU became a Slave

Knowledge Driven Look at Your Favourite Canadian Political Parties