Summary
The O'[Connor] report also makes reference to three other cases in which Canadian Muslims endured torture in Syria. However, since his mandate was limited to the [Maher Arar] case, these other cases were only touched on briefly, inasmuch as they related to his, either directly or because their treatment was similar to that which he endured. O'Connor recommends that another investigation be undertaken to ascertain the facts on these three cases, though not the kind of lengthy public inquiry carried out in the Arar case.
Let's turn first to [Abdullah Almalki]. As a student in the early 90s, he took an internship in Pakistan with the Muslim charity Human Concern International, headed at the time by Ahmed Said Khadr. It turned out that Khadr was a close associate of Osama bin Laden, and he was killed in a shootout with Pakistani security forces. Thus, Almalki was on Canada's security radar. In 2002, he went to visit his wife's relatives in Malaysia, where authorities questioned him. From there he went to Syria to visit his sick grandmother. He was taken into custody on arrival, arrested, and tortured. Canada gave Syria a set of questions to put to him, including questions about Maher Arar, whom he knew in Ottawa and who was in the same Syrian prison at the same time. Almalki was released in 2004.One of Justice O'Connor's recommendations is that "information should never be provided to a foreign country where there is a credible risk that it will cause or contribute to the use of torture." When President George W. Bush and then-Prime Minister Paul Martin discussed the situation surrounding the Arar case, Bush stated that the United States would retain the right to exercise extraordinary rendition on Canadian citizcns but would in future inform Canada beforehand. Marlys Edwardh, one of Arar's lawyers, said that in any sharing of information about security cases with the United States, the information should come with the proviso that Canada would maintain control of how the information was used.See the full content of this document
Extract
Arar to Decide On Public Appearance
Justice Dennis O'Connor, who issued the three-volume report on the case of Maher Arar who was shipped to Jordan for transfer to Syria where he was tortured, speaks of some unfinished business. In the first place, he is due to complete another report on the proposed shape of an independent oversight body for Canada's intelligence agencies. As well, he...
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