Canadian Mahar Arar who was held in New York in 2002 while returning home was sent by US agents to a Syria prison where he was tortured, has received an official apology, investigation, letters to Syria and the US and financial compensation by the Canadian government.

He is forbidden from travelling over US airspace and US politicians are divided over their policy of extraordinary rendition.

Testifying by video link before the House Joint Oversite Committee investigating rendition cases, Arar received an apology from two of the committee members, but it won’t change US policy. The Bush administration continues to quash a lawsuit he (and others) have attempted to bring before US courts.

Bill Delahunt, a Democrat on the joint congressional committee said bluntly: “Let me personally give you what our government has not: an apology.”

“I want to apologize to you, Mr. Arar, for the reprehensible conduct of our government for turning you over to Syria, a nation that our own State Department recognizes as routinely practicing torture,” said Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y.

Another member said that the U.S. should be “ashamed” of its actions, but Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, defended the practice of extraordinary rendition.

“That is no excuse to end a program which has protected the lives of hundreds of thousands if not millions of American lives,” said Rohrabacher.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has also looked at the Arar case, but has been stalled in receiving documents since February.
Update:  The Globe and Mail has the US ’security’ information that was not seen by the O’Connor inquiry.

Until now, the files have been accessible only to those with security clearance, and appear to be the invisible hurdle as Mr. Arar fights to clear his name in the United States.

In Minnesota, Mohamed Kamal Elzahabi, a Lebanese-born U.S. resident who once led training-camps in Afghanistan, has been jailed for three years. His case is obscure and his credibility is very much at issue. Earlier this year he was convicted of immigration fraud and still faces outstanding charges of lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

His alleged admissions he fought as a sniper in Chechnya and Afghanistan have not resulted in criminal charges. Mr. Elzahabi’s statements, under seal, have never been tested in court, nor have they been made public before today.

ABC News

via: CTV: Canadians on flights over US airspace are facing a proposal that requests personal information:

Canadian airlines would be required to provide:

• Passengers’ full name
• Date of birth
• Gender
• ‘Known traveller number’ — an identifier given to passengers the U.S. deems do not pose a threat

There is a Cdn list. But under the proposal, the U.S. would also like information such as passengers’ itineraries, including departure airport code, departure time, and arrival destination and time.

US Ambassador Wilkins can’t understand why Canadian travellers and carriers object to this. He has been Ambassador in Canada long enough to know why we strongly object.

International flights that cut through U.S. airspace should provide passenger information to the Bush government as a matter of security, the U.S. ambassador to Canada said.

“When you get right down to it, shouldn’t we all want our airspace safer and our air flights safer?” Ambassador David Wilkins asked on CTV’s Mike Duffy Live on Thursday.

“We’re talking about Canadian aircrafts coming over the U.S. flying, say, to the Caribbean. You’re mainly talking about Canadians being on that aircraft,” Wilkins said. “Don’t we want it to be as safe as we can make it?