Arwad al-Boushi
Arwad al-Boushi (born 1958/59) is a Syrian-born Canadian oil-industry worker.[1] He is notable for being at the center of the controversy over the detention and torture of Canadian citizens that has been attributed to American counter-terrorism officials.[2][3][4]
Al-Boushi wanted to visit Syria to visit his seriously ill father in 2002.[1][5] Al-Boushi had been involved with the banned Muslim Brotherhood when he was a teenager. Prior to his departure Syrian authorities assured him his involvement with the banned The Muslim Brotherhood when he was a teenager, in the 1970s would not be a problem for him in 2002, over two decades later. He was nevertheless captured.
Al-Boushi was tried before a Field Military Court, "whose procedures fall far short of international standards for fair trials."[4]
Canadian authorities ostensibly conducted a long diplomatic campaign to pressure the Syrian authorities for his release.[6] However it is also known that Canadian authorities deliberately leaked al-Boushi's name as a terrorist to CTV News, falsely suggesting he had been flagged after Maher Arar "provided information" to his Syrian interrogators.[7]
As part of a general Amnesty al-Boushi was freed from Syrian custody on [5] According to Dan McTeague, the parliamentary secretary for the Canadian Foreign Affairs, who played a role in the Canadian government efforts to secure his release:
"He's in very good spirits, clearly delighted with the fact that he has been released,"
Al-Boushi returned to Canada on December 23, 2005.[1]
He says he does not know Maher Arar, Abdullah Amalki, Ahmad El Maati or Muayyed Nureddin, four other foreign-born Canadian Muslims the Syrians had imprisoned.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d "Canadian 'recovering' after Syrian incarceration: Businessman reunites with son in Toronto, won't comment on 3½ years spent in prison". Globe and Mail. January 10, 2006. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060110.wxfreed10/BNStory/International/.
- ^ Riad Saloojee (January 17, 2005). "There's nothing sinister or secret about what we do". Ottawa Citizen. http://www.caircan.ca/oped_more.php?id=1345_0_10_0_C. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
- ^ "Amnesty Calls for Release of Syrian Canadian Jailed in Damascus for Over 2 Years". Democracy Now. October 15, 2004. http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/15/157218. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
- ^ a b "Syria: Arwad Al-Boushi". Amnesty International. http://www.amnesty.ca/take_action/actions/syria_arwad_al_boushi.php. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
- ^ a b "Syria releases last of five detained Canadians". CTV. November 7, 2005. http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20051107/boushi_damascus_syria_051107?hub=TorontoHome. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
- ^ Mark MacKinnon (February 12, 2005). "Pettigrew turns up the heat on Hezbollah". Globe and Mail. http://www.canadiancoalition.com/forum/messages/5420.shtml. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
- ^ Pither, Kerry. "Dark Days: The Story of Four Canadians Tortured in the Name of Fighting Terror", 2008.
External links
People associated with terrorism who have lived in Canada
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al-Jihad |
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al-Qaeda |
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Khadr family |
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Afghan Insurgency |
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Iraqi Insurgency |
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Chechnya |
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Groupe Islamique Armé |
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Toronto 18 |
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Held at Guantanamo Bay |
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Other |
Abderraouf Jdey, Faker Boussora, Bashir Makhtal†, Kassem Daher°, Mustafa Krer, Momin Khawaja, Abdullahi Afrahǂ, Amr Hamedǂ, Huseyincan Celil†, Idriss†, Hassan Almrei, Assem Hammoud, Moussa Mohamed Kalifa, Said Namouh, Mohammad Ashraf Siddiqui, Fahad al-Shehri, Tahawwur Hussain Rana, Abdelrahman Fakhri Abou el-Ila
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Cleared of wrongdoing |
Nageeb al-Hadi, Benamar Benatta, Abdullah Almalki, Maher Arar, Arwad al-Boushi, Ahmad Abou El-Maati, Muayyed Nureddin, Abdellah Ouzghar, Liban Hussein, Qayyum Jamal, Yasim Mohamed, Ahmad Ghany, three young offenders with unreleased names, Sohail Qureshi, Amine Mezbar, 24 Pakistani immigrants, Abousfian Abdelrazik, Arward Al-Bousha, Kassim Mohamed, Adil Charkaoui, Aabid Khan
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† denotes currently imprisoned, ° denotes legal release after serving a sentence, ǂ denotes deceased subjects
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