TORONTO, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- An innocent computer engineer was deported to Syria and tortured after bad intelligence was given to the United States by Canadian police, an inquiry says.
Maher Arar, 32, was born in Syria, but came to Canada when he was 17. He vacationed with his family in Tunisia in September 2002, but was stopped while in transit in New York and held by U.S. officials investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Though Arar was traveling on a Canadian passport, he was deported to Syria, where he says he was tortured and held for about a year.
A Canadian commission said Monday Arar was the victim of inaccurate Royal Canadian Mounted Police reports, the Globe and Mail in Toronto said. The Mounties mistakenly asked U.S. intelligence to put Arar on a watch list as an "Islamic extremist."
The commission cleared Canadian officials of direct involvement in the U.S. decision to deport a Canadian citizen to Syria, but also called for an investigation of three similar cases.
