Arar to accept human rights award via video | CBC News
"Maher Arar will accept an international human rights award Wednesday, but won't travel to Washington for the honour over fears he'll be detained again."
I have much respect for Mr. Arar, and have met him on a number of occasions. It's wonderful to see him honoured this way, but terribly ironic that he still fears travelling to the US. His fears are justified, given his earlier treatment, and illustrates how much more work remains to be done. I'm sure he'd much rather receive full justice and security in his travels than any honours and rewards.
Honestly it makes me think twice about going to the states too. hmm... But I think things have imporved a tad.
ReplyDeleteAssalaamu'alaykum
ReplyDeleteSaira, I don't think things have improved, not even a tad... unfortunately.
I've been thinking about this topic of torture for a while..trying to get my head around it but to no avail. I hate the word itself because of all that it stands for. SubhanAllah. May Allah make it easy for all those suffering injustices at the hands of others, and may He protect us from it all, ameen. Brother Maher Arar might not be in a physical prison now, but he is psychologically traumatized, experiencing what we can never truly understand... May Allah give him peace, ameen.
FYI, "One-fifth of Canadians and more than a third of Americans think governments should be allowed to use torture if doing so could extract information that saves innocent lives from terrorists, says a new poll." [Don Butler - CanWest News Service; Ottawa Citizen]
:-S
Wow, that's terrible irony. But it says a lot about the lack of advancement being made on these issues.
ReplyDeleteupdate your blog already.
ReplyDeleteSr. Saira: Perhaps they've improved a tad, but only the tiniest of tads. (Not sure how tads are measured.) Either way, I intend on avoiding travel to the US for as long as I can, and would advise the same to others.
ReplyDeleteSr. Farzeen: Wa'alaykum assalam,
You're right about the psychological trauma. The first time I met him after he returned to Canada, you could just see in his face that this was someone who went through suffering we can't even begin to imagine. Alhamdolillah, he's looked much better last few times I've seen him. I also imagine that his recent move to British Columbia is helping him start his life anew.
Sr. Asmaa: Seriously. I mean, the apology he received was nice and all, but there's no point in apologizing if you're not going to fix the problem.
Sr. Safiyyah: Yeah, I know this post wasn't a "real" update, but... whatever.
As-salaamu 'alaikum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatu,
ReplyDeleteYaaay, you're blogging again! :) Insha'Allah you had a good 'Eid...
I'm annoyed that nothing much is actually being *done* to make sure that this sort of thing doesn't happen again. The whole thing with the dude who was responsible for it (name started with a Z...) was just infuriating.
I hope he finds a way to sue the u.s. gov't for 180 million bucks.
ReplyDelete