7.1.7 Individual Rights and Collective Security


An overhead view of the security screening at the Denver International Airport, March 1st, 2000 by Danpaluska, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
© Courtesy Dan Paluska

The Case of Maher Arar

On September 26, 2002, a Canadian citizen returning from vacation was pulled out of the line going though customs at New York City's JFK airport. During the next three days, he was fingerprinted, photographed, strip-searched, interrogated, vaccinated, held in a jail cell, and denied access to a lawyer.

During the next week, he met briefly with the Canadian consul and a lawyer. At three in the morning nine days after his intended flight, he was told that, based on secret classified information, he was being deported. He protested, was chained, put on a private jet, and flown to another country where he was blindfolded and beaten whenever he tried to move or talk. He was then put in a van and driven to the country of his birth.

Arar was tortured, repeatedly accused of having ties to terrorist organizations, and threatened with further punishment. He was held in a two metre long filthy sunless cell for the next ten months. After several meetings with the Canadian consul and more than a year later, he was forced to sign a document that he was not allowed to read and he was returned to Canada.

Maher Arar was born in Syria, but moved to Canada with his family as a teenager so he could avoid mandatory military service. A telecommunications engineer with dual Syrian-Canadian citizenship, he lived in Canada with his young family. At one time, he was considered to be a person of interest by the RCMP, and they provided this suspicion to the United States Immigration Service. Based on the RCMP information, he was sent back to Syria, rather than Canada, under the US policy of extraordinary rendition.

No link has ever been found between Arar and any terrorist group. After his release, a Canadian commission of inquiry investigated his situation and found no evidence to support any link to terrorism. The Canadian government apologized for its role in his deportation and awarded him over US$10 million in damages. In 2004, he began a lawsuit against the United States government, charging that the following rights were violated:

  • His constitutional rights to due process
  • His right to choose a country of removal guaranteed by the Torture Victims Protection Act
  • Human rights under international law
The United States dismissed his lawsuit.

Please watch the following video explain Maher Arar speaks about his rendition and torture:

 

  

"Maher Arar speaks about his rendition and torture", Center for Constitutional Rights, You-tube

 





Read page 368 of your text Perspectives on Ideology.

Fear of extremist action such as terrorist attacks has led governments around the world to implement measures to protect their citizens. In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, and other terrorist attacks, many nations have limited personal freedoms and privacy rights for the common good.


To what extent should a government infringe on personal freedoms in the name of maintaining collective security?


George Radwanski, Canadian privacy commissioner, explained that Canadian anti-terrorism measures must meet a four-part test:

  1. The measure taken must be demonstrably necessary to meet a specific need.
  2. The measure must have a likeliness of being effective in achieving its intended purpose.
  3. Intrusions on privacy must be proportional to the security benefit to be derived.
  4. No other less-intrusive measure would achieve the same purpose.


To what extent should individual rights be suspended in the name of public safety?

Please watch the following video explain why the Patriot Act is so controversial:

 

 

  "Here's Why the Patriot Act Is So Controversial", History, You-tube

 



Citizenship Case for Sons of Russian Spies:

 

"Feds launch Supreme Court appeal in case of sons born to Russian spies" CityNews Toronto, You-tube