Falsely accused Canadian seeks recourse

TORONTO --A Canadian man on Friday urged the country's police to discipline those responsible for the false accusations that led the U.S. to send him to Syria where he claims he was tortured.

Syrian-born Maher Arar spoke to Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli by telephone Friday and told him he was disappointed nobody has been punished yet for what happened to him.

Earlier this month, a government inquiry cleared Arar of all suspicion of terrorist activity and found the RCMP sent unfair and inaccurate intelligence reports about him to the United States.

Arar, a software engineer, was traveling on a Canadian passport when he was detained at New York's Kennedy Airport on Sept. 26, 2002, during a stopover on his way home to Canada from vacation in Tunisia.

Arar said U.S. authorities sent him to Syria for interrogation as a suspected al-Qaida member, an allegation he denied. He spent nearly a year in prison in Syria. After his release in 2003, Arar made detailed allegations about extensive interrogations, beatings and whippings with electrical cables in Syrian prison cells.

"I told the Commissioner if anyone spent just one night in that grave-like cell in Syria, or suffered just one hit by a cable in the hands of Syrian torturers, they would understand why the answers, and accountability are so vital," Arar said in a statement.

Arar later said in a conference call with reporters that the RCMP has to hold those responsible accountable. He stopped short of demanding Zaccardelli resign. He said Zaccardelli did not promise to discipline any officers.

Arar also said he reminded Zaccardelli that all he wanted from the RCMP was a letter saying he was not linked to terrorism, but that his request was refused.

Arar thanked Zaccardelli for his public apology on Thursday but said he is still waiting for one from the Canadian government. The government has refused to apologize because it says that might drive up the cost of a financial settlement with Arar.

Arar is perhaps the world's best-known case of extraordinary rendition -- the U.S. transfer of foreign terror suspects to third countries without court approval.

Arar said he would like the U.S to clear his name as well.