OTTAWA, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- A Syrian-born Canadian man has sued top U.S. law enforcement officials for his deportation to Syria where he says he was tortured, the BBC reported Friday.
Maher Arar, 33, was returning from a vacation in Tunisia in 2002 when he was arrested in New York and held for two weeks before being deported to Syria, where he was held for 10 months.
During his time in Syria he was tortured and forced to sign a confession claiming to be connected with al-Qaida, Arar says.
His suit names U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and FBI Director Robert Mueller.
"From the moment I was held in the United States I was treated as though I was a convicted terrorist," he said Thursday at a news conference in Ottawa.
