Tempers Flare After U.S. Sends a Canadian Citizen Back to Syria on Terror Suspicions

Fifteen years after leaving Syria, Maher Arar finds himself back in his homeland, lost in the murky world of its security apparatus.

He is a Canadian citizen who has lived in Canada and the United States, but the United States authorities deported him to Syria on Oct. 10 on suspicions of belonging to a terrorist group. That decision has tested American-Canadian relations and apparently figures into the quiet relationship that the United States and Syria are working out in fighting terrorism.

American officials claim that Mr. Arar is a member of Al Qaeda, but the Canadians say they have no such information. The Syrians are questioning Mr. Arar closely, Western diplomats say, but officially the Syrian government has expressed outrage that he was deported to Syria instead of Canada.

"It's not democratic, or civilized, really," said Bouthaina Shaaban, a government spokeswoman, in an interview. She suggested that the United States would protest such an action affecting one of its citizens. "If any other country did this, they would label that quite strange," she said.

It was the first public acknowledgment in Damascus of Mr. Arar's presence, although the Syrian ambassador in Canada has discussed the case with Canadian news media.

Relations between Syria and the United States are normally strained, yet since Sept. 11 Syrian intelligence officials have helped the United States track down suspected militants. Syria has been in a position to help because of its deep roots in keeping tabs on extremists after crushing its own Muslim Brotherhood movement in the early 1980's.

Along with Mr. Arar, scores of people suspected of being Islamic militants are in Syrian prisons, and some are linked to Al Qaeda, according to local reports. One of the most prominent is Mohamed Heidar Zammar, a Syrian-born German citizen arrested in Morocco and sent to Syria. American officials suspect him of playing a role in the recruitment of Mohamed Atta, a key planner of the Sept. 11 attacks, though German authorities are less sure.

As for Mr. Arar, his colleagues at his former employer, MathWorks, a software company in Natick, Mass., have scoffed at the suggestion that he is a terrorist. His wife, Monia Mazigh, 32, says she cannot fathom why he was arrested. She said he had no political involvement and was devoted to his family and his work as a telecommunications engineer.

"If he is a member of Al Qaeda, why didn't they keep him there?" she said, referring to American officials. "I think the U.S. government made a serious mistake."

Reynald Doiron, a spokesman for Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, said the Canadians had "never unearthed any information to corroborate or support the American statement."

The deportation angered the Canadian government, which protested to Washington. It aggravated a sore point over American antiterrorism measures that allow for the fingerprinting and photographing of foreign nationals — including Canadians — who were born in Syria, Libya, Sudan, Iraq or Iran upon their arrival in the United States.

Canadian political leaders and newspapers expressed outrage about the Arar case. "By sending Mr. Arar to that country, the U.S. has given the impression — right or wrong — that it is contracting out its dirty work," The Globe and Mail said.

Syria has allowed Canadian diplomats to visit Mr. Arar in prison, Mr. Doiron said, something it was not required to do. Syrian intelligence officials were present, he said. The diplomats are passing messages between Mr. Arar and his family. Mr. Doiron said Canada was not pressing for Mr. Arar's release. "We'll speak of release once Syrians have completed their investigation," he said.

The United States authorities have yet to explain on what basis Mr. Arar was sent back to Syria and not Canada, Mr. Doiron said.

"It's certainly not a friendly gesture between good neighbors," he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/11/international/middleeast/11SYRI.html