[Mb-civic] CBC News - FLYERS PASSING THROUGH U.S. HAVE FEW RIGHTS, ARAR JUDGE TOLD

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FLYERS PASSING THROUGH U.S. HAVE FEW RIGHTS, ARAR JUDGE TOLD
WebPosted Thu Aug 11 08:24:59 2005

---A senior lawyer for the U.S. government has told a judge hearing a
lawsuit over Maher Arar's deportation to Syria that foreign citizens
passing through American airports have almost no rights.

At most, Mary Mason told a hearing in Brooklyn, N.Y., passengers would
have the right not to be subjected to "gross physical abuse."

The policy has implications for Canadians who head for international
destinations via big American airports in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles
and other major centres.

Mason said the U.S. government is interpreting its powers in such a way
that passengers never intending to enter the U.S. connecting to
international flights at U.S. airports must prove they are no threat and
could be allowed to enter the country.

If passengers are deemed to be inadmissible, they have no constitutional
rights even if later taken to an American prison. Mason told Judge David
Trager that's because they are deemed to be still outside the U.S., from
a legal point of view.

"Someone who's inadmissible is in the same category as the people that
the CIA snatches and grabs from other countries," said Barbara Olshansky,
a lawyer for the U.S.-based Center for Constitutional Rights, which is
suing a number of U.S. officials on Arar's behalf.

"You are fair game for however executive branch wants to treat you."

 FROM JAN. 22, 2004: Arar launches lawsuit against U.S. to 'clear my
 name'

Mason said the interpretation means travellers can be detained without
charge, denied the right to consult a lawyer, and even refused
necessities such as food and sleep.

That's what happened to Arar, a Canadian-Syrian citizen who was stopped
while trying to board a connecting flight in New York in 2002 and accused
of having terrorist connections.

The Ottawa engineer was detained, not allowed to speak to a lawyer or the
Canadian consul, and eventually deported through Jordan to Syria, where
he claimed he was tortured while being held in prison for a year.

At most, Mason told the judge, a foreign passenger detained while
travelling through a U.S. airport might have a limited right to
protection from "gross physical abuse."

But in a motion filed this week, the U.S. Justice Department argues that
even if torture does occur, U.S. officials can't be sued under the
Torture Victims Protection Act because it only applies to foreign
individuals committing or allowing torture.

The department wants the Arar lawsuit dismissed on that basis.

The U.S. Department of Justice declined to discuss the case or what the
new interpretation could mean for Canadians travelling through the
United States.

However, department spokeswoman Cynthia Magnuson issued this short
statement: "The United States does not practise torture, export torture
or condone torture."

In legal briefs written by U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the
Justice Department has defined torture to mean "pain consistent with
major organ failure or death."

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