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Ex-Detainee Details Fearful Path to Syria

Torture Followed Handover By American ‘Removal’ Unit. Maher Arar, a dual citizen of Canada and Syria, who was arrested in New York last year and deported on accusations he was a terrorist. Arar, 33, spent 10 months in a Syrian prison, where he said he was beaten with an electric cable, forced to sign confessions that he had been to Afghanistan and kept in a cell he called a grave. U.S. officials have said that Arar, who was arrested on Sept. 26, 2002, was seized as part of a secret procedure known as “rendition,” in which terrorism suspects are turned over to foreign countries known to torture people in their custody. Arar was released from the Syrian prison and flown back to Canada last month. At a news conference last week, he described his torture and maintained his innocence of any involvement in terrorist activity. Full Story