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Arar sends lawyers, hopes they’ll be allowed to return

This Magazine Staff

Good work by Tim Harper at The Toronto Star, following the Arar court case in Brooklyn, which opened yesterday. I can’t find any mention of it in any other source, American or Canadian (anybody?). Maher Arar is suing John Ashcroft and others over his extraordinary rendition to Syria in 2002.

How are the Americans, with at least 14 lawyers working on the case, countering his arguments?:

Government lawyers never once conceded yesterday that Arar had been tortured or that the United States had been complicit in his treatment, but they argued they should not have to tell the court why they thought Arar was a member of the terrorist network, because to do so would be to divulge state secrets.

And we all know how seriously these guys take the keeping of state secrets.

Interesting sidenote — Arar cannot even appear in court himself, as he is still banned from entering the US, who maintain he is an Al Qaeda agent.

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