Maher Arar has experienced this. He mentions that former friends have avoided him even though he has been completely cleared of any terrorism related charges by the O'Connor commission. Arar was also the victim of numerous leaks that related his confessions that he trained in Al Qaeda camps and was part of a sleeper cell, all classified information. He confessed all this under torture but the RCMP took it as being true and not obtained under torture. Such leaks made it difficult for the government's attempts to obtain his release. Of course the source of these leaks has never been found. Arar was only a person of interest, that is he was not suspected himself of terrorist activities but he met and knew another person who was, Abdul Almalki. So if you even associate with a target you may end up tortured. Good reason to be wary. Almalki was targeted because he did know a known Al Qaeda member and because he sold electronics equipment to a Pakistan firm and some of it ended up in the hands of the Taliban. This was enough to make him a prime target. He was apprehended by Syrian police when he went there to see his sick mother. The authorities apparently were acting on info from the RCMP. After being jailed and tortured for 22 months he got back to Canada. There is to be a new inquiry thank goodness into his case and that of two others. None of those jailed and tortured have ever been charged with a crime.
--- Jim Devine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On 12/13/06, ken hanly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Torture may possibly also serve as a means of > > instilling fear in others to challenge > authorities. > > right. It sure has instilled fear in the Islamic > community. > -- > Jim Devine / "The human being is in the most literal > sense a political > animal, not merely a gregarious animal, but an > animal which can > individuate itself only in the midst of society." -- > Karl Marx. >
