Monday, January 22, 2007

now what will Day or Haprer try to do about this?

U.S. officials say they will keep Maher Arar on their security watch list
Jan 22

WASHINGTON (CP) -
U.S. officials say they have no plans to take Canadian Maher Arar off their security watch list.

Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales have written a letter saying as much to Stockwell Day, Canada's public safety minister. The letter says the two men have reviewed the secret U.S. file on Arar and they think he should still be on the no-fly list.

They based their decision on information obtained by U.S. authorities, independent of anything supplied by Canada
.

Chertoff and Gonzales say they want to ensure the information is shared with Canada and welcome a confidential meeting with Canadian officials.

The letter comes after Day raised questions about Arar on a trip to Washington last week.

Day says Canadian officials have looked at the file and he sees no reason why Arar can't visit the United States.

Arar, a Canadian engineer, was detained in New York in 2002 and sent to Syria, where he was imprisoned and tortured into making false confessions about terrorism links.

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