Mounties say they didn't think the U.S. would send Maher Arar to Syria
Last Updated Tue, 23 Aug 2005 19:55:23 EDT
CBC News
Key Mounties said Tuesday they never expected the U.S. would send Maher Arar to Syria in the fall of 2002.
Testifying at the inquiry into the handling of the Arar case in Ottawa, Sgt. Rick Flewelling said he discussed the fact that Arar was a dual Syrian-Canadian national with a U.S. official.
Flewelling added that the American wanted to know whether Arar could be denied entry to Canada if he tried to return to this country, and whether the Mounties had enough evidence to charge him with any terrorist offence.
Flewelling said he told his U.S. contact no on both points; Arar could not be barred from entering Canada and could not be charged with anything.
Flewelling told Justice Dennis O'Connor he thought he was clearing the way for Arar's release from detention in New York and his return home.
But Paul Cavalluzzo, the chief counsel to the commission, suggested the kind of questions being asked by the Americans should have raised red flags in Ottawa.
He argued that, faced with a choice between setting Arar free in Canada and sending him to Syria, the country of his birth, the U.S. could be expected to choose Syria.
That would be in keeping with an overall American policy of "cleaning the streets" of suspected terrorists by taking them out of circulation in any way possible, said Cavalluzzo.
Arar had been detained in New York in late September as he flew home to Canada from Tunisia. After 13 days in custody he was sent to Syria, where he says he was tortured into false confessions of terrorist activity, including training in Afghanistan and ties to al-Qaeda.
Sgt. Ron Lauzon, who was Flewelling's boss at the time, testified Tuesday that nobody at the RCMP ever told the Americans, or even implied, that the force wanted Arar sent to Syria.
Documents tabled at the inquiry indicate that Lauzon attended a meeting on Oct. 8, 2002 -- the very day Arar was deported -- between RCMP anti-terrorism officers and an unnamed American "partner," a member of the U.S. embassy staff in Ottawa.
Lauzon's notes from the meeting show a question was raised about whether Arar would be sent to Canada or Syria.
But the Syrian option was just a "hypothetical" one that arose because of Arar's dual citizenship, said Lauzon.
In fact, Arar had already been sent to Syria by the time the meeting was held -- although the U.S. embassy representative was apparently unaware of that fact.
Arar, an Ottawa telecommunications engineer, had come to the attention of the RCMP in late 2001 through an anti-terrorist investigation known as Project A-O Canada.
He was not considered a criminal suspect but was termed a "person of interest" because he had been in contact with other Arab-Canadians who were the main targets of the probe.
Previous evidence has shown the Mounties shared their entire database on the investigation with U.S. counter-terrorism officials several months before Arar was arrested in New York.
But the paper trail indicates that investigators at A-O Canada believed, once Arar was detained, that the Americans would either send him back to Switzerland, his last stop before arriving in New York, or would let him come home to Canada.
The Mounties had laid plans to put Arar under surveillance if he returned home and eventually to interview him.
They say they were only advised by the Americans that he had been sent to Syria 24 hours after the action was taken.
American officials, including then-secretary of state Colin Powell, later maintained that Canadian law-enforcement authorities had concurred in the deportation.
They eventually backtracked, however, and said the decision had been a unilateral American one.
Last Updated Tue, 23 Aug 2005 19:55:23 EDT
CBC News
Key Mounties said Tuesday they never expected the U.S. would send Maher Arar to Syria in the fall of 2002.
Testifying at the inquiry into the handling of the Arar case in Ottawa, Sgt. Rick Flewelling said he discussed the fact that Arar was a dual Syrian-Canadian national with a U.S. official.
Flewelling added that the American wanted to know whether Arar could be denied entry to Canada if he tried to return to this country, and whether the Mounties had enough evidence to charge him with any terrorist offence.
Flewelling said he told his U.S. contact no on both points; Arar could not be barred from entering Canada and could not be charged with anything.
Flewelling told Justice Dennis O'Connor he thought he was clearing the way for Arar's release from detention in New York and his return home.
But Paul Cavalluzzo, the chief counsel to the commission, suggested the kind of questions being asked by the Americans should have raised red flags in Ottawa.
He argued that, faced with a choice between setting Arar free in Canada and sending him to Syria, the country of his birth, the U.S. could be expected to choose Syria.
That would be in keeping with an overall American policy of "cleaning the streets" of suspected terrorists by taking them out of circulation in any way possible, said Cavalluzzo.
Arar had been detained in New York in late September as he flew home to Canada from Tunisia. After 13 days in custody he was sent to Syria, where he says he was tortured into false confessions of terrorist activity, including training in Afghanistan and ties to al-Qaeda.
Sgt. Ron Lauzon, who was Flewelling's boss at the time, testified Tuesday that nobody at the RCMP ever told the Americans, or even implied, that the force wanted Arar sent to Syria.
Documents tabled at the inquiry indicate that Lauzon attended a meeting on Oct. 8, 2002 -- the very day Arar was deported -- between RCMP anti-terrorism officers and an unnamed American "partner," a member of the U.S. embassy staff in Ottawa.
Lauzon's notes from the meeting show a question was raised about whether Arar would be sent to Canada or Syria.
But the Syrian option was just a "hypothetical" one that arose because of Arar's dual citizenship, said Lauzon.
In fact, Arar had already been sent to Syria by the time the meeting was held -- although the U.S. embassy representative was apparently unaware of that fact.
Arar, an Ottawa telecommunications engineer, had come to the attention of the RCMP in late 2001 through an anti-terrorist investigation known as Project A-O Canada.
He was not considered a criminal suspect but was termed a "person of interest" because he had been in contact with other Arab-Canadians who were the main targets of the probe.
Previous evidence has shown the Mounties shared their entire database on the investigation with U.S. counter-terrorism officials several months before Arar was arrested in New York.
But the paper trail indicates that investigators at A-O Canada believed, once Arar was detained, that the Americans would either send him back to Switzerland, his last stop before arriving in New York, or would let him come home to Canada.
The Mounties had laid plans to put Arar under surveillance if he returned home and eventually to interview him.
They say they were only advised by the Americans that he had been sent to Syria 24 hours after the action was taken.
American officials, including then-secretary of state Colin Powell, later maintained that Canadian law-enforcement authorities had concurred in the deportation.
They eventually backtracked, however, and said the decision had been a unilateral American one.
