Video: Maher Arar speaks out
The former CIA rendition victim speaks exclusively to Al Jazeera’s Josh Rushing.
Maher Arar is the most well-known victim of the Bush administration’s notorious policy of extraordinary rendition.
He was seized at Kennedy International Airport in 2002 as he tried to change planes on his way home to Canada from a family vacation.
He was held in solitary confinement and subjected to harsh questioning before being sent to Syria, where he was tortured and imprisoned for nearly a year.
After an extensive investigation that concluded that Arar had no ties to terror, the Canadian government offered him a formal apology and compensation worth millions of dollars.
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In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, Arar told Josh Rushing that he has yet to see any encouraging signs from the Obama administration when it comes to reversing the “atrocities” of the last eight years and that the president should appoint a special commission to investigate the Bush administration’s “crimes against humanity”.
Arar says he believes torture is still going on under the Obama administration and that he will continue to try to litigate his case in the US to bring closure to his ordeal.
The first episode of Fault Lines can be seen from Thursday, April 16, at the following times GMT: Thursday: 0600, 1630; Friday: 0130, 0830; Saturday: 1130, 2330; Sunday: 0630, 2030; Monday: 1430; Tuesday: 1230, 1930; Wednesday: 0300, Thursday: 0600, 1630.