'I wish I could buy my life back'

Sat, January 27, 2007

Ottawa's $10.5M package for torture victim Maher Arar is called a 'triumph of innocence.'

By KATHLEEN HARRIS, FREE PRESS PARLIAMENTARY BUREAU


OTTAWA -- In what was called a "triumph of innocence," torture victim Maher Arar received a long-awaited apology and $10.5 million legal settlement from the government of Canada yesterday.

Arar's young family and soaring career as a computer software engineer were ripped apart in 2002 when he was wrongly tagged a terrorist and shipped to prison in Syria.

He hasn't yet considered what he will do with the millions in compensation, but said it will help him rebuild his life, reputation and family.

"I wish I could buy my life back," he said.

"If there was a way I could buy my life back, that's my biggest wish."

Arar said the apology and financial award delivered by Prime Minister Stephen Harper formally establishes his innocence, but he criticized the U.S. and Canadian officials who maliciously smeared his reputation and left a cloud of lingering suspicion over his head.

He paid tribute to supportive Canadians who stood by him through his long struggle for justice.

"I am very proud to be a Canadian and very proud of what we have been able to achieve together -- all of us," Arar said.

Calling it a "historic settlement for an exceptional case," Arar's lawyer Julian Falconer warned the multimillion-dollar award should not be seen as a windfall.

No rational person would choose to be tortured and held captive in a tiny cell not knowing whether he would live or die, he said.

"To those who would suggest that money could somehow fix this or have rendered him whole, I say to you that is absurd," he said. "I would go further and suggest that at the end of the day, not one of us would trade our good names and our ability to live a normal life for any amount of money."

Falconer credited Harper for issuing the official apology for the role of Canadian officials played in Arar's "terrible ordeal."

"We can not go back and fix the injustice that occurred to Mr. Arar. However, we can make some changes to lessen the likelihood that something like this will ever happen again," Harper said.

The PM promised to implement all 23 recommendations from the judicial inquiry and to maintain pressure on the U.S. to have Arar removed from its terror watch list. Canada will continue to co-operate with the U.S. on security issues, but won't relent on the Arar file, he vowed.