EDITORIAL: United States owes tortured man an apology

The United States owes Maher Arar an apology. The telecommunications engineer with dual citizenship in Canada and Syria was stopped by U.S. officials in 2002 during a layover at JFK. It took a year before Arar was able to reach his final destination in Canada. During the interim, Arar was interrogated here for 13 days and then sent to Syria, where he was tortured for 10 months.

The United States had received a tip from Canadian authorities, reliable allies, that Arar may have had ties with al-Qaida. But the Canadian information turned out to be false. Upon his release, Arar filed a civil action for damages in U.S. federal court, and the Canadian Parliament conducted a formal investigation of his case.

In Canada, the parliament and prime minister offered Arar a formal apology, as well as roughly the equivalent of $10 million in U.S. currency as reparation. Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Arar's appeal of a lower court decision finding national security concerns barred his lawsuit.

The United States doesn't have a legal obligation to compensate Arar, but it may have a moral one. It's unfortunate that Arar was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but the United States was an actor in the events that led to his horrible experience. We should acknowledge the mistake, apologize and move forward. hN