Canadian Sent to Syrian Prison Disputes US Claims Against Torture

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http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0729-01.htm

Published on Thursday, July 29, 2004 by Knight-Ridder

Canadian Sent to Syrian Prison Disputes US Claims Against Torture
by Shannon McCaffrey

OTTAWA - When memos surfaced recently showing top Justice Department lawyers trying to justify torture, Attorney General John Ashcroft moved quickly to stake out the moral high ground.

"This administration rejects torture," Ashcroft told the Senate Judiciary Committee. "I condemn torture."

Maher Arar, 34, however, doesn't buy it.

For 10 months and 10 days, Arar was in a Syrian prison, beaten and confined to a cell not much bigger than a coffin. He thanks the United States for his time in hell.

Arar was picked up by U.S. authorities at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, accused of being a terrorist and then shipped on Justice Department orders to Syria under a highly secret policy known as rendition. Arar's story reveals much about the Bush administration's hidden war on terror.
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