ACTION ALERT: Support BCCLA calls for an inquiry into post-9/11 rendition of Benamar Benatta

July 28, 2009

July 20 marked the three-year anniversary of Benamar Benatta’s return to Canada from the U.S. where he had spent the previous five years in prison under conditions a U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found “could be described as torture.” Mr. Benatta was delivered to U.S. officials on the evening of September 12, 2001 a week after coming to the Canadian border seeking asylum, making him Canada’s first post-9/11 rendition.

The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association has just sent a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Minister of Justice Robert Nicholson and Minister of Public Safety Peter Van Loan calling for an inquiry into the Canadian government’s handling of this case. We need to support this call for justice.

According to a July 20 BCCLA press release: “Mr. Benatta alleges that in addition to removing him from Canada without the benefit of a hearing or any sort of procedural due process, Canadian officials also provided to U.S. authorities misleading and erroneous information linking him to terrorist activities. According to Mr. Benatta, as a result of this misinformation, the U.S. authorities detained him for nearly five years.”

You can read the full release here: http://www.bccla.org/pressreleases/09Bennata.pdf.

This is not the first time Mr. Benatta has called for an inquiry.

"I would like to have answers about why. Somebody out there owes me an apology. Canada just can't take an innocent person and send him away and forget about him for five years,” Mr. Benatta told the Ottawa Citizen in January 2008. The Council of Canadians reported on his lawsuit against the federal government on our Integrate This website, and called on Canadians to support the campaign for a full inquiry. You can read that post here: http://www.canadians.org/integratethis/insecurity/2008/Jan-30.html.

TAKE ACTION! Write a letter to Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca), Nicholson (NichoR@parl.gc.ca) and Van Loan (VanLoP@parl.gc.ca) supporting the BCCLA demand for an inquiry

Using the BCCLA letter as a template, we need as many Canadians as possible to support the BCCLA’s and Mr. Benatta’s renewed calls for a full inquiry into the Canadian government’s actions. Please send a copy of the letter to your own MP (find your MP) and the BCCLA at info@bccla.org.

To read the full BCCLA letter: http://www.bccla.org/othercontent/benatta_letter.pdf.

Sample letter

Dear Prime Minister,

I urge you to heed a call this week by the British Columbia Civil Liberties Associtiation to innitiate an investigation into the conduct of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the Canada Borders Services Agency, the RCMP, CSIS and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and any other government agencies involved in the removal of Benama Benatta from Canada on September 12, 2001 and his subsequent detention in the United States for five years.

I am deeply troubled by what appear to be serious infringements on Mr. Benatta’s rights to due process and security of the person, as well as the parallels of this case and those of Maher Arar, Abousfian Abdelrazik, Abdullah Almalki, Mauyyed Nureddin and Ahmad El Maati where there were allegations information provided by Canadian officials to a foreign government resulted in mistreatment and even torture.

Mr. Benatta and the Canadian public are entitled to a full accounting of the government’s role in this affair, which is even more evidence of the dire need for a comprehensive, cross-agency review mechanism as recommended by the Arar Commission.

Sincerely,

[Your name]