Torture lawsuit

last updated 8 January 2015

Toronto

A Syrian-born Canadian citizen who was deported from the United States to Syria last year is filing a lawsuit accusing the governments of Jordan and Syria of torturing him, his attorney said this week. U.S. immigration agents stopped Maher Arar, 33, during a layover in New York, as he returned to Canada from Tunisia. U.S. officials suspected Arar had terrorist ties, so they sent him to Syria by way of Jordan. After his October release, Arar said he had been beaten in Jordan, then driven to Syria. Arar was held there for 10 months, and says he was beaten with an electrical cable and forced to sign a false confession that he had trained in a terrorist camp in Afghanistan. Syria has denied the allegations.