Maher Arar Report Released: Arar Absolved

The commission that investigated the rendition by US officials which resulted in the torture of Canadian Maher Arar in Syria has released one of its final reports. The Globe and Mail has preliminary highlights:

— Inexperienced RCMP investigators wrongly provided Americans with inaccurate, unfair and overstated evidence about Mr. Arar's alleged terrorist leanings.

— American officials “very likely” relied on erroneous Mountie information in their decision to send Mr. Arar to Syria, but no evidence Canadian officials participated or acquiesced in decision.

— No evidence Mr. Arar has committed any offence or is a threat to Canadian security.

— Canadian agencies erroneously accepted information about Mr. Arar from Syrians without determining whether it was extracted through torture.

— Canadian officials leaked inaccurate details about Mr. Arar to news media to damage his reputation and protect themselves.

— Mounties kept top government officials in the dark about RCMP mistakes by providing sanitized version of Mr. Arar case.

— Twenty-three recommendations, including creating an independent watchdog to monitor how Mounties share information with other countries; calling on CSIS and RCMP never to divulge information abroad if it could result in torture; urging federal government to use report as basis for compensating Mr. Arar.

An emotional Arar responded by calling for investigations into other cases of Canadians who have been tortured and thanked Justice O'Connor for clearing his name. This is a damning indictment of the RCMP and unnamed 'Canadian officials' actions and I hope Mr Arar sues the pants off everybody involved. He deserves real justice and those involved all need to be held accountable in what was one of the dirtiest misinformation campaigns launched in response to Bush's so-called war on terrorism in Canada.

Arar's lawsuit against the US government was summarily dismissed earlier this year on grounds of 'national security'. That must not happen here in Canada. It's vital that all Canadians push this Conservative government to act on the report's recommendations to ensure that this never happens again. Arar's lawyers believe that those in the RCMP who violated the law via leaks need to face further investigation and possible criminal prosecution as well.

You can find the report on the Arar Commission's website once it's posted. Justice O'Connor will also be releasing a second report soon.

Update: The Toronto Star has more:

OTTAWA - Canadian Maher Arar and his wife were on a U.S. watch list wrongly described as “Islamic extremist individuals” suspected of being linked to Al Qaeda, based on incorrect information provided by the RCMP, a federal inquiry report released today says.
[...]
"The potential consequences of labeling someone an Islamic extremist in post-9/11 are enormous,” O’Connor wrote in his 822-page report.
[...]
“I am able to say categorically that there is no evidence to indicate that Mr. Arar has committed any offence or that his activities constitute a threat to the security of Canada,” O’Connor wrote.

“This was not a case where investigators were unable to effectively pursue their investigative goals because of lack of resources or time constraints. On the contrary, Canadian investigators made extensive efforts to find any information that could implicate Mr. Arar in terrorist activities . . .

"The results speak for themselves: they found none.”

The Canadian government has agreed to discuss a settlement in Arar's case, but those talks will not begin until January, 2007.