Canada acts to coverup its role in torture of Muslim
uploaded 24 Jan 2004OTTAWA -- Police raided the home and office of an Ottawa journalist yesterday to investigate possible leaks of classified information about a Syrian-born Canadian who was deported to Syria by the United States and suspected of having ties to Al Qaeda.
The police action, which the Ottawa Citizen's publisher said "smacks of a police state mentality," came on the day that Maher Arar's lawyers said their client planned to launch a lawsuit against the United States in New York over his deportation.
Arar had been changing planes in New York on his way back to Canada in 2002 when he was arrested and sent to Syria, where he says he was tortured before being sent back to Canada last year. He denies any involvement with terrorist groups.
The United States has said it was tipped off to Arar by Canadian security officials, prompting demands for inquiries into whether Canada had helped send one of its citizens off to a Middle Eastern torture chamber.
Two investigations are already under way into whether the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or Canada's spy agency had given information to Washington about Arar.
Yesterday's raids by 10 Mounties on the home and office of Ottawa Citizen reporter Juliet O'Neill added another layer to the investigations.
The police search warrant alleges O'Neill violated provisions of the Security of Information Act, which makes it a crime to communicate, receive or possess leaked secret government documents.
It refers to a Nov. 8 Citizen article in which she reported on documents she said had been leaked by Canadian security officials on whether Arar had engaged in terrorist activities.
The article said a security official had voiced concern about a possible link between Arar and a suspected Ottawa-based Al Qaeda cell. Police took notebooks and clippings and downloaded the hard drives from O'Neill's computers. Citizen Editor Scott Anderson said he expected police would lay charges against her.CanWest Global Communications Corp., which owns the Ottawa Citizen, said it had won an agreement to seal the material until it can challenge the action in court. But it said the police actions were an affront.
Source: Reuters
