Apologizing to Maher Arar: A Beginning, Not an End
Submitted by Editor on February 8, 2007 – 8:56 pmNo Comment
JURIST Special Guest Columnist Faisal Kutty, vice-chair and counsel to the Canadian Council on American Islamic Relations and a doctoral candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School York University in Toronto where he also practices law, says that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s apology to Maher Arar provides a unique opportunity to address the erosion of civil and human rights in Canada’s own “War on Terror”…
“My priority right now is to clear my name,” said Maher Arar during his first public appearance in 2003 upon his return after being tortured for over a year in Syria. The Canadian Arar Commission findings which cleared him and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s recent apology – which came after months of negotiations — go a long way in helping Arar fulfill his first wish, even though some believe the apology did not go far enough (Harper apologized “for any role Canadian officials may have played”, while the Commission squarely blamed Canadian and American officials).
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Tags: Maher Arar, War on Terror
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