June 14, 2010 Today, following the announcement by the U.S. Supreme Court that it had refused to hear the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) case on behalf of Canadian citizen and rendition victim Maher Arar against U.S. officials for their role in sending him to Syria to be tortured and detained for a year, Mr. Arar made a startling announcement. According to Mr. Arar and his attorneys, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has been conducting a criminal investigation into U.S. as well as Syrian officials for their role in his rendition to torture.
To their knowledge, this is the first time the existence of the RCMP's criminal investigation of U.S officials has been made public. Mr. Arar has met with the RCMP in conjunction with the investigation.
Said CCR Senior Attorney Maria LaHood, "The U.S. should be conducting its own criminal investigation of the officials responsible for sending an innocent man to Syria for a year to be interrogated under torture, not covering for them. Continued
Arar working with RCMP as it probes his overseas torture
As U.S. courts throw out his suit, Syrian-Canadian says he’s now co-operating with RCMP detectives probing his overseas torture
Jun. 15, 2010 Canada’s federal police, long faulted for a role in the overseas torture of Canadian Maher Arar, appear to be trying to build a criminal case against the foreign officials who orchestrated his interrogation.
Mr. Arar and his legal team revealed Monday they are co-operating with an RCMP investigation. The probe, known as Project Prism, now involves a team of four detectives said to be jet-setting around the globe to gather evidence.
Unlike past probes focusing on the actions of Canadian officials, these RCMP detectives are targeting Syrian and, to a lesser extent, American officials, according to Mr. Arar’s lawyer.
After Mr. Arar lost a civil suit against the U.S. government on Monday, Paul Champ revealed that both he and his client have lately had many fruitful conversations with the Mounties. “The RCMP investigators have really gone to great lengths to build trust,” he said, adding that “we speak to the RCMP investigators almost every other week.” Continued
Arar speaks with Democracy Now Watch Video
US Refusal to Investigate Torture Lets Other Countries Do it for Us
The Supreme Court's refusal this week to hear the claims of Maher Arar, a Canadian sent to Syria to be interrogated under torture in 2002, is appropriately being condemned as another example of the U.S. avoiding any legal or moral responsibility for government- sanctioned torture.
What seems to shock and outrage people about the Arar case in particular is that the facts are not in dispute. Canada, whose security services were complicit in his rendition to Syria, has publicly acknowledged its responsibility, compensated Arar, and launched a criminal investigation of U.S. and Syrian officials. The United States, on the other hand, has still neither admitted its role nor held any U.S. officials accountable. And, it hasn't paid Arar a dime. Continued
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