US to review why Canada's Arar still on watch list
Source: Reuters
(Adds Arar's age, paragraph 2, and lawsuits, paragraph 11) By Arshad Mohammed WASHINGTON, Dec 21 (Reuters) - The United States said on Thursday it would review why a Syrian-born Canadian citizen remains on a U.S. security watch list despite having been cleared by a Canadian investigation. Maher Arar, a 36-year-old software engineer, was arrested by U.S. agents in 2002 during a stopover in New York on his way home to Canada from a holiday. He was deported to Syria, where he says he was jailed and tortured before his release in 2003. After a lengthy investigation, a Canadian judge concluded in September that Arar had been tortured in Syria and that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police gave faulty information to U.S. authorities suggesting he was an Islamic extremist. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff had told her he would "personally review" the case, which has been a source of irritation in an otherwise close U.S.-Canada relationship. "But I think you do have to understand that the United States has to follow its own processes and has to come to its own conclusion and to its own satisfaction about the nature of these cases," Rice told reporters after meeting Canadian Foreign Minister Peter MacKay. In an interview with Canada's Omni television released on Thursday, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said it "seems extremely unfair" that Arar remains on the U.S. watch list. "Granted, we didn't have participation from the American government, but we had a public inquiry. The conclusions are clear," Harper said. "There's no reason to suspect Mr. Arar of these things -- that's what the judge ruled," he added. "The United States has not shared the information with us that are the grounds for their suspicion." Last week, U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins said the United States used information from various sources when it deported Arar to Syria in 2002 and put him on the watch list. In his statement, Wilkins did not give details about what other intelligence the United States might have about Arar. Maria LaHood, a lawyer who represents Arar in the United States, said he has sued the United States and Canada over his treatment and is seeking monetary damages from both. She said he has also sued to be able to reenter the United States. (Additional reporting by Randall Palmer in Ottawa)
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