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Maher Arar

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by oz_media

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I don't know how much coverage has been shown worldwide regarding Maher Arar's deportation to a Syrian jail, but I couldn't find many American reports, just the Canadian ones.

I don't think this will be completely uncovered for some time yet but I do think something will be found sooner or later.

Was it the American or Canadian officials that made the wrong move here.

Snippit:
"Canadian officials have said before Arar was deported, Americans had consulted with the RCMP. But the Mounties have insisted they were not told U.S. plans involved sending Arar to a Syrian jail.

Arar said he was harshly interrogated by American officials, strip-searched, imprisoned and eventually deported to Syria, despite his request to be sent back to Canada."

I haven't seen enough evidence to place blame on either side yet but one thing I did notice was that his repeated requests for council were ignored.
I find this extremely easy to believe because I've seen it and experienced it before.
Just because you have a right to coucil, doesn't mean you will get council. Just because it is not right for an interrogator to ignore your rights, it is extremely common for them to do so.
Your rights seem to stop when it comes down to the wire, if you are suspected of ilegal activity, throw your rights away, they no longer stand. whether or not itis correct, it is a fact, people are RARELY read their rights formally as they are supposed to be.

If you haven't heard about this yet:
http://tinyurl.com/tswu

It's quite shocking to see how one persons FEAR can lead to injustice and misreatment of ones rights.

3 replies

by cactus pete

I read about this in the trib. The only mention of the Canadian officals was that they were reviewing what information they gave to the US that brought to the conclusion he was a terrorist.

by oz_media

as we know, this will probaly be swept under the carpet over time with neaither party accepting blame, once it's political it disappears and nobody is wrong, have you heard about the WMD lately? They weren't found then they weren't talked about so nobody's to blame, sure.

what bothers me moer than anything is that this persons constitutional rights were completely ignored, as I've said tihis is almost a given these days. Sure you can watch COPS do everything by the book, they are also on camera. In real life they do whatever they FEEl like doing, your rights don't exist. If anybody doesn't belive me, prove me wrong. Go out and commit a crime and we;ll see how your rights magically disappear.

NOw I can see this bveing accepted in a corrupt government or police force, but we are talking about AMERICANS here. The nation that places it's entire lifeline on the constitution and everyone whines about constitutional rights being infringed. Yet here it is again, completely thrown to the wayside out of FEAR this man was a terrorist.

Again, I'm not just coming down on America here, this also involves one of the most advanced police agencies in the world, Canada's RCMP (Insert Anti-Canadian/Pro-USA rant here when you all copy and paste).

This Canaidan citizen suffered for years in a GRAVE due to OUR (both USA and CANADA's) negligence. Yet we feel free to tell another country how it should be run.

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