So Syria is good for something after all?
And why is it that you always hear about Canadians getting beaten overseas? Don’t yall have Tae Bo up there? 
Anyway.. I hope you guys can actually get somewhere with this… seems Americans are too busy arguing about nothing. I hope this isn’t BS (well, I hope it is for Arar’s sake.. er.. you know what I mean)
Canadian deported to Syria by United States details torture, calls for public inquiry](http://infobrix.yellowbrix.com/pages/infobrix/Story.nsp?story_id=43325884&ID=infobrix&scategory=The+Iraq+Situation&)
A Canadian citizen deported to Syria last year by the United States spoke publicly about his experience for the first time Tuesday, claiming he was tortured and calling for a public inquiry.
Maher Arar, who spent a year in Syrian custody after being detained while traveling through New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport in September 2002, choked up several times while describing beatings and solitary confinement.
Arar, who returned to Canada last month, believes an overzealous pursuit of terrorists in ned in that country. However, he was never charged, and Syrian authorities made no statement when they released him.
Arar’s family and Canadian lawyers accuse Canadian security agencies, particularly the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, of providing information to U.S. authorities who eventually deported Arar. Media reports based on unnamed sources have accused him of being linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist network, which he strenuously denies.
I am not a terrorist. I am not a member of al-Qaeda and I don't know anyone who belongs to this group,'' said Arar, 33, who was born in Syria and moved to Canada with his family at age 17. I cannot believe what has happened to me and how my life and career have been destroyed.‘’
The RCMP’s complaints commission is reviewing the case, and lawyers in Canada and the United States are looking at possible lawsuits focusing on Arar’s deportation to face torture in Syria. He was first flown to Jordan, then turned over to Syrian authorities shortly afterward.
Canadian Parliament members visited Arar in custody in April. Canadian officials say they detected no signs of torture in previous visits with him.
Arar said Tuesday he was beaten with shredded cables and kept in a tiny, dark cell he called ``a grave.‘’
``At the end of each day, they would always say, tomorrow will be harder for you,‘’ Arar said at an Ottawa news conference with his wife, lawyer and a human rights activist at his side.
He said he falsely confessed to going to Afghanistan because of the beatings, and described listening to other prisoners being tortured.
That was one of the worst parts of my imprisonment was just to hear all the people screaming,'' he said. I remember my heart while I was hearing this just wanted to go out of my chest.‘’
While Arar’s house was visited by two RCMP officers in January 2002, when he was out of the country on holiday, he said he had no reason to suspect he was under surveillance or suspected of any wrongdoing. His wife, Monia Mazigh, said Muslims have been questioned routinely by police since the Sept. 11 attacks.
Muslims in general are targeted -- this is a reality,'' Arar said. While he said he was very, very worried for the future,‘’ he also said he believed Canada was ``a country of justice, a country where human rights are respected.‘’
What I went through is just beyond human imagination,'' he said. My priority now is to clear my name, get to the bottom of the case and make sure this never happens again to another Canadian.‘’
Canadian authorities note that an independent inquiry in Canada would lack the authority to compel U.S. officials to testify or provide information.
In New York, a lawyer for the Center for Constitutional Rights said he was looking into the role of U.S. authorities in sending Arar to a country where he could face torture.
The lawyer, Steven Macpherson Watt, said that as a signatory of the International Convention Against Torture, the United States is obligated to avoid deporting people to countries such as Syria that are known to practice torture.
``If this is the case, it is not only a violation of both domestic and international law but it reveals the willingness of U.S. officials to trample on the most fundamental principles of due process and human rights in their scorched earth approach to counterterrorism,‘’ Watt said.
took me a few days to check my email and realize why I couldn’t post! 
