Arar was deported to Syria in 2002 after being detained by US authorities in New York while in transit from Tunisia to his home in Canada.
OTTAWA: A judge cleared a Canadian man on Monday who had been accused of Al-Qaeda links, saying he was deported from the United States based on "inaccurate" information and mistakenly ended up detained and tortured in Syria for a year.
Judge Dennis O'Connor released a 400-plus page report highly critical of the Royal Canadian Mountain Police's (RCMP) and intelligence services' roles in the affair involving Maher Arar, a Canadian of Syrian origin.
Arar was deported to Syria in 2002 after being detained by US authorities in New York while in transit from Tunisia to his home in Canada.
But the judge said Arar was an innocent victim who should never have been detained and who had no links to the Al-Qaeda network.
"I am able to say categorically that there is no evidence to indicate that Mr Arar has committed any offence or that his activities constitute a threat to the security of Canada," O'Connor said after the report's release.
Confirming Arar's account of his time in Syria, the judge also concluded that "indeed while in Syria he was tortured."
The report stated that US authorities had relied on information provided by the Royal Canadian Mount Police in deciding to detain and deport Arar.
O'Connor dismissed as "inaccurate" Canadian police information that Arar and his wife were "Islamic Extremist individuals suspected of being linked to the Al-Qaeda terrorist movement."
"The RCMP provided American authorities with information about Mr. Arar that was inaccurate, portrayed him in an unfairly negative fashion and overstated his importance in the RCMP investigation," the report says.
The report makes 23 recommendations, including proposing stricter rules for national security investigations and urging a complaint be made to the US and Syrian governments.
"The Government of Canada should register a formal objection with the government of the United States and Syria concerning their treatment of Mr. Arar and Canadian Officials involved with his case," the report says.
Arar, a telecommunications engineer who denied the accusations after returning to Canada in 2003 and had asked for a public inquiry, said the report restored his reputation.
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