[Vision2020] Innocent Man Sent to Syria and Tortured
Donovan Arnold
donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com
Thu Sep 21 07:56:14 PDT 2006
Nobody is arguing that Joe.
_DJA
Joe Campbell <joekc at adelphia.net> wrote:Get a grip guys. The man was innocent, sent to Syria, and subsequently tortured. If you cannot admit that the US made several mistakes in this instance, what would it take to do so?
--
Joe Campbell
---- Donovan Arnold wrote:
=============
I think we have to think about this for a moment. Obviously, nobody is justifying torture.
However, I don't think the United States just randomly picked on a guy. This guy flew into NY City on Sept. 26, 2002. That was just after the anniversary of September 11, 2001. The guy fit the profile of the those that flew the airplanes, and they received a phone call from the country he just came from saying to stop him because he was a terrorist and was communicating with Bin Laudin and had a plane ticket to visit a middle eastern country linked to terrorists. He also was not a native born Westerner but Middle Easterner.
The guy happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time matching the description of someone the authorities were looking for. He had a really bad stroke of luck.
If you happened to be going for a midnight walk to get some fresh air and a man matching your description, height, weight, hair and eye color, and wearing the same thing as you, just raped a woman ten blocks away , and a witness fingered you as "That's the guy!" to a police officer, could you blame the officers for taking you in?
What happened after that was upsetting. But let us be realistic about this and how the world works.
Best,
_DJA
Dick Sherwin wrote: As I understand this story, the U.S. depended on Canadian officials as to the status of this "Innocent Man" and he was deported to Syria based on information from Canada. Is this true, or am I wrong?
At any rate, mistakes do happen and perhaps the U.S. officials should have checked out the validity of the claims by the Canadian Immigration people more closely. I am sure that Ted and Joe would have made sure, beyond the word of officials of this guy's own government, that he should not have been deported to Syria.
Point being, we have all heard the story now boys. You can stop trying to make it appear the United States purposefully exiled an innocent man to a country where our government knew he would be beaten and mistreated. I know it is difficult for you both to just let such an opportunity drop but, believe me, it is no longer current news. Get over it.
Dick S
----- Original Message -----
From: Ted Moffett
To: Joe Campbell
Cc: Vision 2020
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 10:25 AM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Innocent Man Sent to Syria and Tortured
Joe et. al.
Of course not.
What do you call those who seize an innocent man, kidnap him to a foreign nation against his will beyond help, deny him access to review of his imprisonment by any court or judge or any resemblance to the fundamental legal protections of habeas corpus, beat him, interrogate him, and take a year of his life away?
Defenders of freedom!
http://www.lectlaw.com/def/h001.htm
In Brown v. Vasquez, 952 F.2d 1164, 1166 (9th Cir. 1991), cert. denied, 112 S.Ct. 1778 (1992), the court observed that the Supreme Court has "recognized the fact that`[t]he writ of habeas corpus is the fundamental instrument for safeguarding individual freedom against arbitrary and lawless state action.' Harris v. Nelson, 394 U.S. 286, 290-91 (1969). " Therefore, the writ must be "administered with the initiative and flexibility essential to insure that miscarriages of justice within its reach are surfaced and corrected." Harris, 394 U.S. at 291.
Ted Moffett
On 9/19/06, Joe Campbell wrote: Careful, Ted! You don't want anyone to think that you're supporting terrorists with this post, do you?
Best, Joe
---- Ted Moffett wrote:
=============
http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/innocent-man-sent-to-syria-and-tortured/20060918232609990016?ncid=NWS00010000000001
Innocent Man Sent to Syria and Tortured, Probe Finds
Canadian Report Faults Mounties, U.S. for Deportation
By ROB GILLIES, AP
TORONTO (Sept. 19) - The United States "very likely" sent a Canadian
software engineer to Syria, where he was tortured, based on the false
accusation by Canadian authorities that he was suspected of links to
al-Qaida, according to a new government report.
Syrian-born Maher Arar was exonerated of all suspicion of terrorist activity
by the 2 1/2-year commission of inquiry into his case, which urged the
Canadian government to offer him financial compensation. Arar is perhaps the
world's best-known case of extraordinary rendition -- the U.S. transfer of
foreign terror suspects to third countries without court approval.
"I am able to say categorically that there is no evidence to indicate that
Mr. Arar has committed any offense or that his activities constitute a
threat to the security of Canada," Justice Dennis O'Connor said Monday in a
three-volume report on the findings of the inquiry, part of which was made
public.
Arar was traveling on a Canadian passport when he was detained at New York's
Kennedy Airport on Sept. 26, 2002, on his way home from vacation in Tunisia.
Arar said U.S. authorities sent him to Syria for interrogation as a
suspected member of al-Qaida, a link he denied.
He spent nearly a year in prison in Syria and made detailed allegations
after his release in 2003 about extensive interrogation, beatings and
whippings with electrical cables.
O'Connor criticized the U.S. and recommended that Ottawa file formal
protests with both Washington and the Syrian government over Arar's
treatment.
"The American authorities who handled Mr. Arar's case treated Mr. Arar in a
most regrettable fashion," O'Connor wrote. "They removed him to Syria
against his wishes and in the face of his statements that he would be
tortured if sent there. Moreover, they dealt with Canadian officials
involved with Mr. Arar's case in a less than forthcoming manner."
The U.S. is already under intense criticism from human rights groups over
the practice of sending suspects to countries where they could be tortured.
U.S. and Syrian officials refused to cooperate with the Canadian inquiry.
The commission found the Royal Canadian Mounted Police shared information
about Arar with American anti-terrorist agencies both before and after he
was detained.
The RCMP asked the U.S. to put Arar on a watch list as an "Islamic extremist
individual" suspected of links to the al-Qaida terrorist movement, the
report said.
The request was issued after Arar met with another man who was under
surveillance, a meeting Arar has said was about how to find inexpensive
computer equipment.
"The RCMP had no basis for this description, which had the potential to
create serious consequences for Mr. Arar in light of American attitudes and
practices," the report said.
The RCMP described Arar as the "target" of a domestic anti-terrorist
investigation in Canada when in fact he was a peripheral figure who had come
under suspicion only because he had been seen in the company of the man who
was under surveillance, the report found.
O'Connor said that much of the material shared with U.S. authorities had not
been double-checked to ensure its accuracy and reliability -- a violation of
the RCMP's usual rules for divulging information to foreign agencies.
O'Connor concluded that the inaccurate information passed by Canadian police
to U.S. authorities "very likely" led to their decision to send Arar to
Syria.
"It's quite clear that the RCMP sent inaccurate information to U.S.
officials," Arar said at a news conference in Ottawa. "I would have not have
even been sent to Syria had this information not been given to them."
"I have waited a long time to have my name cleared. I was tortured and lost
a year of my life. I will never be the same," Arar said. "The United States
must take responsibility for what it did to me and must stop destroying more
innocent lives with its unlawful actions."
The commission concluded there was no evidence Canadian officials
participated in or agreed to the decision to send Arar to Syria. But
O'Connor recommended that in the future, information should never be
provided to a foreign country where there is a credible risk that it will
cause or contribute to the use of torture.
Most of the judge's 23 policy recommendations centered on the RCMP and
emphasized the need to improve the force's internal policies for national
security investigations and the sharing of information with other countries.
Arar's case has been regularly featured on the front pages of Canadian
newspapers and public outcry led to the government calling an inquiry.
Canada's federal government established the inquiry in 2004 to determine the
role Canadian officials played.
O'Connor also found "troubling questions" about the role played by Canadian
officials in the cases of three other Canadians of Arab descent -- Ahmad El
Maati, Abdullah Almalki and Muayyed Nureddin. All claim they were tortured
in Syria after traveling there on personal business, and all suspect that
the RCMP, Canadian intelligence or both collaborated with their captors.
O'Connor said he could not get to the bottom of those cases because of the
limited nature of his mandate. But he urged the government to appoint an
independent investigator -- something short of a full-fledged public inquiry
-- to look into those cases.
O'Connor sifted through thousands of pages of documents and sat through
testimony from more than 40 witnesses. He delivered two versions of his
report to the government: one classified, the other public. But portions of
even the public edition of the long-awaited document were withheld due to
security concerns.
9/19/2006 06:23:35
-----------
Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
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