It took a considerable amount of pressure. There were repeated calls from Amnesty International and other concerned groups, leading newspaper editorials, various politicians, eminent Canadians, the UN Human Rights Committee and then ultimately from Justice Dennis O’Connor in the final report from the public inquiry into the Arar case. All called on the Canadian government to launch a process of independent review of the other cases. In December 2006 some 2 ? years after the men had returned to Canada, the government did so, and appointed former SCC Justice Frank Iacobucci to head it up.



But, Commissioner Iacobucci was given Terms of Reference that require virtually all of his work, whether it involves national security secrets or not, to be held behind closed doors – excluding not only the public, but the 3 men who are at the very heart of the process. Far more restrictive than the Arar Inquiry; and excessive secrecy is not what is needed here. And so it has been. The inquiry opened in April 2007 and since that time has held only 4 days of its sessions in public, none of which involved hearing evidence from witnesses. Secrecy doesn’t afford justice to these three men and it certainly does not help build public confidence. As such, whether this inquiry will help clarify the important questions that are stake or simply further shroud the truth very much remains an open question.


What is at play in these cases? Is it just some inexplicable twist of fate that four Canadians, of varying degrees of interest in Canadian national security investigations, found themselves in Syrian jail cells? Sadly, it is virtually certain that this goes far beyond mere fate and coincidence. We have to consider that we have possibly been dealing with what we might call: extraordinary rendition, the Canadian edition.


Not as dramatic perhaps as the US model of extraordinary rendition that captures the headlines and now the stuff of Hollywood movies. But some commonality, perhaps. Individuals against whom allegations of some sort of involvement in, support for or knowledge of terrorist activities have been made, being arrested, detained or simply abducted. Dealt with outside existing legal frameworks, denied due process and other essential human rights protections. They ultimately end up being furtively sent to or picked up in countries with abysmal human rights records, where they are subjected to extensive interrogation frequently marked by torture and cruel treatment. The inevitable conclusion in such cases is that officials in one country may have turned to other regimes to commit torture on their behalf. The range of countries involved – both those from which individuals have been bundled off and those to which they have been bundled away is becoming dizzying: Syria, Egypt, Sweden, Gambia, Bosnia, Italy, Jordan, Morocco, Yemen, the United States, Canada and more.


Maher Arar’s case is of course a very clear example of the U.S. model of extraordinary rendition. Stopped by U.S. officials while transiting through New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport on his way home to Canada. Rather than allow him to return to Canada or even deport him back to Canada, after nearly two weeks of detention in the United States, he was taken out of his prison cell in the middle of the night and flown halfway around the world on a private jet, leading to one year of detention without charge or trial in Syria, where he was subjected to extensive interrogations, severe torture and inhumane prison conditions. #p#分页标题#e#


But, taken together these four cases raise yet-unanswered questions as to whether Canadian law enforcement and security agencies may have conducted their own version of extraordinary renditions, rendition-lite if you will. No dramatic flights on CIA spy planes in the middle of the night. This is Canada after all, we’re much more modest than that. In all four of these cases there are allegations of contact between Canadian officials and Syrian and Egyptian authorities before and/or during the detention. The allegations raise the prospect that Canadian officials may have provided information that directly led to their arrests and may have even done so with the expectation that it would result in their arrests. It also appears that information provided by Canadian sources likely served as the basis for the interrogation sessions in Syria and Egypt during which these individuals were subjected to torture. There are further concerns that information coming out of these interrogations was then transferred back to Canada, with further information or follow-up in turn again coming from Canada. The information obtained in these torture sessions may have been also used by Canadian officials in the course of ongoing investigations of these four men and of other individuals.


All of this leads to the worrying possibility that Canadian officials may have intentionally or with wilful blindness turned to Syrian and Egyptian security agencies to take action in these cases rather than doing so within Canada’s own legal framework, despite the well-documented practice of torture and arbitrary detention in similar cases in both countries. Extraordinary rendition, the Canadian edition – no spy planes and abductions in the middle of the night; but some well-timed phone calls, active information sharing – all to the same end: no accountability, no rule of law, just very serious human rights violations.


The second concern I would like to touch on is related to the first. Central to the US model of extraordinary rendition has been a network of secret CIA operated planes, which ferry suspects around the world, to detention centres where torture is an inevitability. Over the past few years more attention has been paid to the flights themselves and critical questions about the knowledge other governments have of these planes and the support they have offered by way of landing and refueling permission.


In Europe, combined with the allegations of secret detention centres in central or eastern Europe, the concerns mounted rapidly as details came out about hundreds of landings in numerous European countries. Knowingly, willfully blind or unwittingly – were European governments complicit in extraordinary rendition by virtue of having helped the flights along the way? But In Europe concern has led to action – powerful reports coming out of the Council of Europe investigation led by Swiss Senator Dick Marty, the hearings conducted by the European Parliament. A number of national level investigations and reviews as well. #p#分页标题#e#