US deports Canadian citizen to Syria

From the bizarro files, TalkLeft informs us that a dual Canadian/Syrian citizen was apprehended in NY while on a stopover on his way home to Canada, and then deported to Syria.

"Mr. Arar, 32, was deported to Syria on Oct. 7 or Oct. 8 from Kennedy Airport in New York during a stopover on his way home to Montreal, officials at the Department of Foreign Affairs revealed yesterday. The Canadian government was not contacted about Mr. Arar's case until after he had been deported, on Oct. 10."

"Mr. Arar, who holds dual Syrian-Canadian citizenship, has not set foot on Syrian soil in 16 years. The thought that her husband is back in the country he chose to leave pains Ms. Mazigh. "Just the idea is a torture for him," she said. "Syria is not a democratic country. Anything can happen there. "The proof: I don't know where he is and I have no contact with him."

I don't know what to make of this. It's gross ineptness, but at what level of government remains to be seen.

Posted October 17, 2002 01:19 PM | Comments (2)