43 Facts About Maher Arar

Maher Arar was held without charges in solitary confinement in the United States for nearly two weeks, questioned, and denied meaningful access to a lawyer.

Maher Arar was detained in Syria for almost a year, during which time he was tortured by Syrian authorities, according to the findings of a commission of inquiry ordered by the Canadian government, until his release to Canada.

Maher Arar was born in Syria in 1970 and moved to Canada with his parents at the age of 17 in 1987 to avoid mandatory military service.

Maher Arar earned a bachelor's degree in computer engineering from McGill University and a master's degree in telecommunications from the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique in Montreal.

In December 1997, Maher Arar moved with his family to Ottawa from Montreal and listed Abdullah Almalki as his "emergency contact" with his landlord.

In 2001, Maher Arar returned to Ottawa to start his own consulting company, Simcomms Inc At the time of his rendition, Maher Arar was employed in Ottawa as a telecommunications engineer.

Later on, the Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar revealed that there were no clear directions to RCMP officers regarding how to share information with the FBI and the CIA.

On October 7,2002, Fuller went to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and showed Canadian teenager Omar Khadr a black-and-white photograph of Maher Arar obtained from the FBI office in Massachusetts, and demanded to know if he recognised him.

Maher Arar was known to be in North America during this time frame and under surveillance by the RCMP.

On September 26,2002, during a stopover in New York City en route from a family vacation in Tunisia to Montreal, Maher Arar was detained by the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service.

When it became clear he was going to be deported, Maher Arar requested he be deported to Canada; though he had not visited Syria since his move to Canada, he retained Syrian citizenship as Syria does not permit the renunciation of citizenship.

Maher Arar's interrogators claimed that Arar was an associate of Abdullah Almalki, the Syrian-born Ottawa man whom they suspected of having links to al-Qaeda, and they therefore suspected Arar of being an al-Qaeda member himself.

When Maher Arar protested that he only had a casual relationship with Almalki, having once worked with Almalki's brother at an Ottawa high-tech firm, the officials produced a copy of Maher Arar's 1997 rental lease which Almalki had co-signed.

Maher Arar was transferred to a prison, where he claims he was beaten for several hours and forced to falsely confess that he had attended an Al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan.

Maher Arar described his cell as a three-foot by six-foot "grave" with no light and plenty of rats.

Maher Arar believes that his torturers were given a dossier of specific questions by United States interrogators, noting that he was asked identical questions both in the United States and in Syria.

Maher Arar was released on October 5,2003,374 days after his removal to Syria.

Maher Arar returned to Canada, reuniting with his wife and children.

Back in Canada, Maher Arar claimed that he had been tortured in Syria and sought to clear his name, embarking on legal challenges both in Canada and in the United States as well as a public education campaign.

Maher Arar received a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Ottawa in 2010.

The rendition of Maher Arar has received much attention and scrutiny in Canada, both in the media and in the government.

Maher Arar's case reached new heights of controversy after reporter Juliet O'Neill wrote an article in the Ottawa Citizen on November 8,2003, containing information leaked to her from an unknown security source, possibly within the RCMP.

The secret documents provided by her source suggested Maher Arar was a trained member of an al-Qaeda terrorist cell.

Maher Arar ordered that a redacted copy be released to the public.

On February 5,2004, the Canadian government established the "Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar" to investigate and report on the actions of Canadian officials.

On June 14,2005, Franco Pillarella, Canadian ambassador to Syria at the time of Maher Arar's removal, said that at the time he had no reason to believe Maher Arar had been badly treated, and in general had no reason to conclusively believe that Syria engaged in routine torture.

On October 27,2005, Professor Stephen Toope, a fact-finder appointed by the Maher Arar inquiry released a report saying that he believed Maher Arar was tortured in Syria.

Maher Arar said that Arar had recovered well physically but was still suffering from psychological problems caused by his mistreatment, as well as anxiety caused by the Commission of Inquiry process itself.

Maher Arar thanked Commissioner Zaccardelli for his apology but lamented the lack of concrete disciplinary action against those individuals whose actions led to his detention and subsequent torture.

In Canada, Maher Arar's ordeal has raised numerous questions that have yet to be answered.

Several Conservative party members, including Canadian Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, apparently assumed Maher Arar's guilt, labeling him a terrorist.

Maher Arar attempted to sue both the Syrian government and the Jordanian government in Canadian courts but both cases were dismissed on the basis that the Canadian courts had no jurisdiction.

In January 2004, Maher Arar announced that he would be suing then-Attorney General of the United States John Ashcroft over his treatment.

Further, Maher Arar filed a claim under the Torture Victims Protection Act, adopted by the United States Congress in 1992, which allows a victim of torture by an individual of a foreign government to bring suit against that actor in a US court.

The Center for Constitutional Rights, who represents Maher Arar, petitioned the US Supreme Court on February 1,2010, to hear the Arar case but the Court declined.

The government has not publicly acknowledged that Maher Arar was tortured in Syria.

Maher Arar was initially detained because his name appeared on terrorist lists, and he was deported according to our laws.

On October 18,2007, Maher Arar spoke via video-link before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight, and the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at a hearing that is examining his case and the practice of rendition.

Canadian officials apparently told US officials Maher Arar was no longer a resident of Canada.

Zaccardelli told the CBC that US authorities said that they didn't have enough evidence to lay charges against Maher Arar and wanted to know whether Maher Arar would be arrested if he returned to Canada.

In 2011, Maher Arar endorsed the Canadian ship to Gaza, part of the Freedom Flotilla II which aims to end the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.

My Struggle to Free My Husband, Maher Arar, published November 4,2008, tells of Monia Mazigh's struggle to free her husband Maher Arar.

In January 2010 Maher Arar began publishing the online magazine PRISM.