Arar report: a victory for human rights
Posted: October 3, 2006
Maher Arar with Alex Neve, Amnesty International's secretary general, at Amnesty's Ottawa office, September 19, 2006. Photo: Amnesty International
In October 2002, Alex Neve, Amnesty International's secretary general, received a phone call from Tunisia. A woman named Monia Mazigh was calling because her husband, who had been detained in New York by US officials, had literally disappeared.
Her husband was, of course, Maher Arar, and he had been sent from the US to Syria, where he endured a year of imprisonment, was severely tortured and held in abysmal prison conditions.
Over the next four years, Amnesty International was involved in the struggle to protect Arar's human rights - first during his imprisonment in Syria and later after his release and return to Canada.
On September 18, Justice Dennis O'Connor released a report into Canada's role in Arar's case. It is a powerful analysis of what went so terribly wrong.
The report completely vindicates Maher Arar. Justice O'Connor makes it clear that there is no evidence that Arar has committed any offence or posed any kind of security threat to Canada; he called for the “taint and suspicion” that has haunted Arar's reputation to be cleared.
The report is also a stunning catalogue of wrongdoing across various agencies and governments. There is no doubt that if things had been done properly back in Canada, Arar's nightmare would never have happened - no arrest in New York, no torture in Syria, no need for a public inquiry in Canada.
Speaking to Amnesty International members and staff the day after the report's release, Arar said, “You are the true heroes... Had it not been for your work and support, I don't think we would have achieved what we achieved.”