Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Omar Khadr places Maher Arar in Afghanistan

Maher Arar, Syrian born with a Canadian citizenship, was deported to Syria by US authorities back in 2002. After his release from Syrian custody, Arar returned to Canada, and later received $10.5 million after an inquiry clear his name of any terrorist links.

Now it appears that Omar Khadr, a member of Canada's al Qaida family, identified Arar by name from a photograph. Khadr claims he saw Arar in al Qaida safe houses and at a training camp in Afghanistan. However, Arar was in Canada when Khadr had said he saw him in Afghanistan.

But what I'm wondering is how did a 15 year old Khadr recognize Arar by face and name? Maybe Khadr had his dates wrong but it seems like he knew who Arar was. It will be interesting to find out more info. National Post

U.S. NAVAL BASE GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba -- Omar Khadr's terrorism-linked "identification" of Maher Arar emerged Tuesday as less emphatic than testimony before a Guantanamo Bay military hearing suggested the day before.

Notes taken at an FBI interview of the Canadian-born terror suspect following his 2002 capture in Afghanistan show Mr. Khadr stated only that Mr. Arar -- whose 2002 deportation and torture in Syria has come to symbolize excess in the war on terror -- "looked familiar."

The notes go on to say that "in time" Mr. Khadr "stated he felt he had seen" Mr. Arar, the hearing heard.[...]

The FBI agent was firm Monday in saying Mr. Khadr identified Mr. Arar by name when shown a photograph of the former computer engineer, who lives in Ottawa.

Mr. Fuller added that Mr. Khadr claimed to have seen Mr. Arar at an al-Qaeda-run "safe house" near Kabul "on several occasions" -- and also said he "might have seen him" at an al-Qaeda training camp.

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