Innocent Man Sent to Syria and Tortured, Probe Finds - AOL News

Innocent Man Sent to Syria and Tortured, Probe Finds - AOL News: "TORONTO (Sept. 19) - The United States 'very likely' sent a Canadian software engineer to Syria, where he was tortured, based on the false accusation by Canadian authorities that he was suspected of links to al-Qaida, according to a new government report.

'I have waited a long time to have my name cleared. I was tortured and lost a year of my life. I will never be the same,' said Maher Arar, who was wrongly accused of having al-Qaida ties.
Syrian-born Maher Arar was exonerated of all suspicion of terrorist activity by the 2 1/2-year commission of inquiry into his case, which urged the Canadian government to offer him financial compensation. Arar is perhaps the world's best-known case of extraordinary rendition -- the U.S. transfer of foreign terror suspects to third countries without court approval.

'I am able to say categorically that there is no evidence to indicate that Mr. Arar has committed any offense or that his activities constitute a threat to the security of Canada,' Justice Dennis O'Connor said Monday in a three-volume report on the findings of the inquiry, part of which was made public."