We’ve kept a fairly close eye on Arar’s story. If you’re unfamiliar with it, you can find more information by typing his name into the search bar at the top right.

On Thursday, Democratic and Republican legislators apologized to Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian citizen who was arrested in America and deported for torture. The members of congress then said that President Bush should follow Canada’s lead by admitting the mistake and officially apologizing to Arar. Despite being cleared by the Canadian government for having connections to terrorist groups, the software engineer is still barred from entering the United States. Arar’s only crime seems to be that he was Middle Eastern, yet he is still treated like a torture-worthy criminal by our government.

“The most fundamental question that has not been answered yet is: why did the US government decide to send me to Syria and not to Canada?” he said.

The US government has sought to dismiss Arar’s case on the grounds that it would violate state secrets.

It acknowledges conducting “renditions” or secret international transfers of terrorist suspects, often to countries with dubious human-rights records, saying the programme has prevented further attacks.

Dean Boyd, a US justice department spokesman, said Arar was deported to Syria because he maintained dual citizenship there, and that Syria had assured the US that Arar would not be tortured.

As expected, a White House official stated that there are no plans to issue an apology to Arar. Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher said the US made a mistake but “has been unwilling to own up to it.” He added, “It reflects an arrogance I don’t like to see in our government.”

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