| Syrians lawsuit risks national security says US Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1106349012240&call_pageid=970599119419http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1106349012240&call_pageid=970599119419
Jan. 22, 2005. 08:29 AM U.S. claims Arar suit a risk to national security
MICHELLE SHEPHARD STAFF REPORTER
The United States government is attempting to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Syrian-Canadian Maher Arar, claiming the litigation would jeopardize national security.
Invoking the rarely used "state secrets privilege," U.S. Department of Justice lawyers filed a motion with the New York eastern district court this week, stating that the release of any information concerning the U.S.'s involvement in Arar's deportation to Syria could jeopardize "intelligence, foreign policy and national security interests of the United States."
Lawyers with New York's Centre for Constitutional Rights, who filed the lawsuit on Arar's behalf a year ago, said the government is abusing claims of national security in order to avoid a review of its policies and handling of terrorism suspects.
"They're asking the court to sanction their cover-up basically," lawyer Maria LaHood said yesterday.
Arar was detained by immigration officials at New York's JFK airport on Sept. 26, 2002, and subsequently held as a terrorism suspect in a Brooklyn jail, where he says he repeatedly asked to be sent back to Canada. On Oct. 8 he was flown on a private jet to Syria, via Jordan. Arar says he was tortured and held without charges for a year before returning to Canada.
The Centre for Constitutional Rights launched Arar's lawsuit last January alleging that former attorney-general John Ashcroft, former homeland security secretary Tom Ridge and other officials within President George W. Bush's administration knew Arar would be tortured when he was deported. Arar alleges he was a victim of the government's controversial policy of "extraordinary rendition," where American authorities can circumvent their own restraints on interrogations by sending suspects to countries that employ harsh tactics.
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