A Canadian citizen, deported by the US has arrived in Syria, a Canadian official said on Monday. Just an hour after Foreign Minister Bill Graham told the House of Commons that Ottawa was still trying to trace Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen of Syrian origin, Canada's ambassador in Damascus was informed by Syrian authorities that he had arrived in that Middle Eastern country, said Isabelle Savard, Graham's spokeswoman.
According to AFP, Savard said that the authorities in Syria had informed Canadian ambassador Roderick Bell that Arar had arrived in Syria, from Jordan. "At the moment, we have no more information," said Savard. She said the Canadian embassy in Damascus was seeking consular access to Arar.
In addition, she said the news was received at around 4:00 pm Ottawa time, an hour after Graham complained that the United States had still not told Canada what has happened to Arar. The man was taken into custody by US authorities while travelling from Tunisia back to Canada.
Canadian officials had previously admitted that repeated attempts by Canadian consular officials in the United States to have access to and find the whereabouts of Arar had been unsuccessful.
Graham's admission prompted the leader of the left-of-center New Democratic Party, Alexa McDonough, to suggest that Ottawa ought to issue a travel advisory to Canadian citizens warning them of the dangers of travelling to the United States.
In the House of Commons Monday, Graham admitted: "We remain extremely concerned about the case of Mr. Arar. "I have raised this issue with American authorities, with the ambassador and at the highest levels, to register out concern with the fact that Mr. Arar is a Canadian citizen and should have been treated as a Canadian citizen.
"Our concern at this time is to find Mr. Arar and allow his family to enter into contact with him." McDonough retorted, "Maybe we need to issue a travel advisory telling people it is not safe to go to the US these days." (Albawaba.com)
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