Torture Survivor Maher Arar on how U.S. Sent Him to Syria Where He Was Jailed and Tortured

A U.S. federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Canadian citizen against the U.S. government for detaining him and sending him to Syria where he was jailed and tortured. Maher Arar was the first person to mount a civil suit challenging the U.S. government policy known as extraordinary rendition.

In October 2002, he was detained at JFK airport while on a stopover in New York. He was then jailed and secretly deported to Syria. He was held for almost a year without charge in an underground cell not much larger than a grave. Charges were never filed against him.

In a ruling earlier this month, the federal judge, David Trager, said he could not interfere in the case because it involves crucial national security and foreign relations issues. In an 88-page judgment, Trager wrote "One need not have much imagination to contemplate the negative effect on our relations with Canada if discovery were to proceed in this case and were it to turn out that certain high Canadian officials had, despite public denials, acquiesced in Arar"s removal to Syria."

The Center for Constitutional Rights launched the lawsuit on Arar's behalf in January 2004 against former attorney general John Ashcroft and other U.S. officials, seeking undisclosed damages.

Maher Arar joins us on the line from his home in Canada.

* Maher Arar, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government for detaining him and sending him to Syria where he was jailed and tortured. He was the first person to mount a civil suit challenging the U.S. government policy known as extraordinary rendition.

* Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights.

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