The Injustice
In 2002 US officials conspired to send Canadian citizen Maher Arar off to Syria where they knew he would be tortured as a terrorist suspect. Arar survived the torture, and after Syria decided he was innocent, he was repatriated to Canada.
Canada held an official inquiry which found that Canadian officials were implicated in the assault on Arar. The country officially apologized and negotiated a $10.5 million compensatory payment to Arar.
The Bush administration has neither admitted responsibility nor apologized to Arar. Worse, last week the government continued its obstruction of a civil suit filed on Arar's behalf in US courts by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR).
Two Steps to Correct the Injustice
Now, the Obama administration has a great opportunity to begin to redeem the country's claims to the rule of law by preparing to take two steps in the Arar case:
- issue a formal apology to Arar as did the Canadian commission; and
- either abandon government resistance to Arar's suit or enter into separate negotiations with Arar leading to a financial settlement along the Canadian lines.