Canada Protests Deportation of Canadian Citizen to Syria

On November 5, 2003, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien protested the U.S. detention and deportation of Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen, who on September 26, 2002, was detained in New York, where he tried to change planes to Montreal, and deported him to Syria on suspicion of having connections to terrorists. Addressing Parliament, Mr. Chretien said that Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham had spoken with Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and asked why the U.S. deported Mr. Arar to Syria. According to Mr. Chretien, the deportation was ?completely unacceptable and deplorable?...[more]