By Beth Gorham

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A U.S. government investigator is re-opening a probe of the Maher Arar case and said today his office couldn’t rule out the possibility that officials wanted to send the Canadian to Syria because they believed he would be tortured.

Richard Skinner, inspector general at the Homeland Security Department, told a Capitol Hill hearing he has informed the U.S. Justice Department, which is also conducting an internal investigation.

Skinner’s office decided to do its own review after receiving new classified information less than a month ago that contradicts one of its earlier conclusions.

The watchdog had exonerated U.S. immigration officials in a secret report, parts of which were finally made public Thursday amid widespread calls from legislators and activists who don’t buy the need for secrecy on security grounds.

The report says the U.S. government sought assurances from Syria that Arar wouldn’t be tortured but they were “ambiguous” and not thoroughly checked.

Furious Democrats, meanwhile, demanded a special investigation of whether the administration broke U.S. laws on torture in Arar’s case.

U.S. officials have always maintained they don’t intentionally transfer anyone to be tortured and have denied any wrongdoing with regard to Arar, who was nabbed in New York in 2002.

The 52-page inspector general’s report, which is heavily blacked out, said officials could have sent Arar to Canada, Switzerland or Syria.

Arar requested Canada but the acting attorney general at the time, Larry Thompson, determined it would be “prejudicial to the interest of the United States.”

“The porous nature of the U.S.-Canadian border would enable Arar to easily return to the United States,” was cited as an issue in the report, but no other reasons were given.

Officials concluded “that Arar was entitled to protection from torture and that returning him to Syria would more likely than not result in his torture.”

The report noted that holding Arar at a detention centre in Brooklyn severely restricted his access to lawyers and advice.

“Given the seriousness of the charges, the intent to remove him to Syria and his highly restrictive detention conditions, we question the length of time he was given to comprehend and respond to the charges against him and his ability to obtain counsel,” said the report.

“Arar was in a maximum security detention facility and, as such, was virtually incapable of harming national security or public safety and had very limited opportunities to communicate with anyone.”

The report also complained that Arar didn’t get a copy of his final removal order until he was on the way to the airport.

Had lawyers seen it, they could have filed a habeas corpus challenge on his behalf.

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