David Cole
In the fall of 2002, Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen, was pulled out of line by US officials at John F. Kennedy Airport, locked up for twelve days, and then rendered to Syria, where he was imprisoned in a cell the size of a grave and tortured. After a year, the Syrians released Arar, concluding he had done nothing wrong; subsequently the Canadian parliament offered him a unanimous apology and awarded him $10.5 million in compensation. Yet the US courts have shut the door entirely on Arar, not even allowing him to offer proof of his claims.
