Rights groups press Canadian government for new probe on rendition cases News
Rights groups press Canadian government for new probe on rendition cases

[JURIST] Human rights groups are pressuring the Canadian government to open a new investigation into the role the government played in allegedly allowing a number of Muslim Canadians to be imprisoned and tortured in Syria. Testimony ended Thursday in an inquiry [official website; JURIST report] into the detention of Maher Arar [advocacy website; Wikipedia profile], but three rights groups said Friday the process was not sufficient. The groups cite three other Muslim Canadians in particular who were allegedly imprisoned in Syria at the same time as Arar and say this indicates a pattern by the government. Arar was allegedly deported to Syria by the US in 2002, where he was imprisoned for a year and tortured. The rights groups, which include the Council on American-Islamic Relations [advocacy website], have acted as intervenors in the Arar inquiry. The Canadian government has come under increasing pressure [Globe and Mail report] recently to investigate its complicity in the rendition of people to the Syrian government. The Toronto Globe and Mail has more.