extraordinary rendition Archives

Why Latin America Didn’t Join Washington’s Torture Posse

There was a scarcely noted but classic moment in the Senate hearings on the nomination of John Brennan, the president’s counterterrorism “tsar,” to become the next CIA director. When Senator Carl Levin pressed him repeatedly on whether waterboarding was torture, he ended his reply this way: “I have a personal opinion that waterboarding is reprehensible … Continue reading

Canadian Rendition Probe Expands to US, Syria

The Canadian government has quietly been conducting an international criminal probe of the actions of Syrian and U.S. authorities in the case of Maher Arar, the Canadian who was arrested in 2002 by U.S. officials and then rendered to a Syrian jail where he was held incommunicado and tortured for 10 months before being released … Continue reading

US High Court Derails Rendition Victim’s Lawsuit

The quest for justice for a Canadian who was mistakenly tagged as a terrorist by U.S. authorities and shipped off to a Syrian prison for close to a year of abuse came to an abrupt halt Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his case. Maher Arar is a Syrian-born Canadian and father … Continue reading

CIA Briefed Congress on Renditions

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) briefed members of Congress from both political parties numerous times about the agency’s interrogation and detention programs, several prominent human rights groups said Monday. The groups – Amnesty International USA, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law … Continue reading

Another Legal Setback for Arar Torture Case

A federal appeals court on Monday dismissed a lawsuit brought against a former U.S. attorney general by a Canadian citizen who sought damages for being unlawfully detained by U.S. authorities in New York and then secretly shipped to Syria, where he was imprisoned for a year and claims he was tortured. The court concluded that … Continue reading