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The following is excerpted from the CBC article, Maher Arar offers to talk to Omar Khadr:
Maher Arar, whose wrongful deportation and torture in Syria led to a multimillion-dollar settlement with Ottawa, says Canada must decide whether it wants to continue to "demonize" Omar Khadr or to rehabilitate him.
(…)
“I can relate to him, I can relate to all the Guantanamo detainees,” Arar said. “The minute I hear the word torture, something in my mind starts thinking … what did this guy go through and how is he going to recover, most importantly?”
Arar, a Canadian citizen since 1991 and Ottawa-based telecommunications engineer, was detained during a stopover in New York in September 2002 and deported to Syria, where he was born, even though he was carrying a Canadian passport.
He was incarcerated, beaten and tortured in a Syrian jail for nearly a year after his “rendition” by U.S. authorities.
After an official inquiry that cleared him of all alleged ties to terrorism, Arar was given an official apology from the federal government and awarded a $10-million settlement.
Arar said Khadr was forced into a sleep deprivation program for two weeks before Canadian security intelligence officers interrogated him, and that the outcome of Khadr's case may have been different if he had been afforded a fair civil trial.
“He was not treated fairly, I think. The entire legal process he went through was flawed. We know he was tortured and mistreated,” Arar said.
Despite the fact that Khadr has family ties to al-Qaeda and confessed to killing an American medic, Arar said his age – 15 at the time of the crime – should have been considered in his legal proceedings.
“I don’t know why our government goes to Africa to lobby for the rights of child soldiers when right here at home we have one of our own who should have been afforded this right,” he said.
Arar, who endured psychological and physical torture in a Syrian “dungeon” said he would have said and done anything for relief or a chance at freedom – even confessing to being a 9/11 plotter. It was likely the same for Khadr, he suggested.
“When you’re put in a cage in Guantanamo and you see no light at the end of the tunnel, they give you two options: you’re either locked for your life, or you plead guilty,” he told Solomon.
Further Reading
Omar Khadr, Oh Canada
Edited by Janice Williamson
Includes article Omar Khadr: America’s Injustice, Canada’s Shame, by Maher Arar
In Omar Khadr, Oh Canada, over thirty contributors, analyze Khadr's background, his incarceration, the actions of Canadian authorities, and the implications raised by his legal case. This multi-genre book includes essays, articles, poems, a play, extended excerpts from the documentary film You Don't Like the Truth, and other texts produced by distinguished contributors such as Sherene Razack, General Roméo Dallaire, Charles Foran, Kim Echlin, Judith Thompson, Audrey Macklin, Shadia Drury, George Elliott Clarke, Maher Arar, Rick Salutin, and Sheema Khan. While they sometimes disagree on issues such as radical Islam and Canadian multiculturalism, they all write from the conviction that Khadr's treatment has been shamefully unjust and shaped by post 9/11 Islamophobia that continues to distort the views of many Canadians.
Meet Janice Williamson,
editor of Omar Khadr, Oh Canada
Shadows of Afghanistan panel
LitFest – Edmonton's Nonfiction Festival
Saturday, October 20, 2012 – 19:00
More info
To learn more about Omar Khadr, Oh Canada or to order online, click here.
For media inquiries, contact MQUP Publicist Jacqui Davis.
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