Today’s Good News: Rendition Victim One of Time’s Top People
In May, Time magazine announced that Maher Arar, Canadian rendition victim, has made this year’s Time 100, “a list of 100 men and women whose power, talent, or moral example is transforming our world.”
Arar’s challenge to the US government’s practices of rendition and torture have illuminated the illegal and immoral acts, shown how completely unjustifiable they are, and contributed to the tide of public opinion against the “war on terror” and its attacks on civil liberties and human rights.
The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) has filed suit against the US government on Arar’s behalf. He is the Syrian-born Canadian citizen who was picked up and rendered to Syria for torture in 2002. The Canadian government has issued an apology and made a multi-million dollar payment for their wrongdoing, but the US continues to stonewall. A court dismissed the case in February 2006 on “national security” grounds, and an appeal is ongoing. Arar is the first to sue the government because of the rendition policy. The US won’t allow him in the country, so he will miss Time’s induction ceremony, but his story won’t go away that easily.
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