What happened to Mahar Arar was the result of neglect and a false justification of the greater good. It is a story that shows us the power of fear and a government’s choice to uphold rights in the name of “freedom”. Hopefully by discussing the events of Mahar Arar’s imprisonment and torture, citizens and governments alike can revaluate the modern media outlets and never again let something like this be excused.
Mahar's story begins in September 2002, on a family trip in Tunis, Tunisia. While there mahar gets an email from his employer The Mathworks, a high tech firm based in Boston. The email is for a job in which he would be needed to assess some consulting work for a client. Mahar accepts and leaves his family early. His flight took him through, Tunis to Zurich, to New York, then Montreal. While in New York waiting for his final flight Mahar is pulled over by immigration and taken aside. A federal agent and officer from the NYPD then question him. The questions were very personal and dealing with his relationships, life, and work. Throughout the interrogation Mahar was denied a lawyer for he was not an American citizen.
A main interest of the questions was his relationship with Abdullah Almalki; Mahar only said what he knew stating he knew him through Abdullah’s brother. The interrogators pulled out a copy of his rental agreement from 1997. This completely shocked Mahar as he had completely forgotten about this one time occurrence. Using this to validate the rest of the interrogation the questioners continued for hours. Mahar was then brought to prison where he spent several days. During this time he tried to talk to his wife and a lawyer in order to get out the situation. U.S officials then decided to deport Mahar to Syria for torture, his home country. Syria not wanting anything to do with him denied the U.S. So instead the U.S sent him to Jordan for torture. Mahar spent many months in Jordan being tortured. His cell was like a grave denying him any comfort. During this time Mahar was forced to sign documents placing him in Afghanistan as well as proving his close relations with other suspected terrorist members. After being beaten for nearly 10 months he was soon moved to another prison where he could at least walk around. While here his release was being negotiated thanks to his wife and Canadian officials. Soon was he was released and returned home. Mahar Arar’s story is one that should be told to almost every person who lets societal pressure and media influence cloud their judgment on the issue of the war on terror. Though honourable in its goals to rid the world of terror and oppression who really suffers as casualties of war? That
