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they should attempt to enter the United States for any reason, including transit to or from
third countries." In addition to the rendition, Canada expressed concern about a U.S.
decision to photograph, fingerprint, and monitor travelers born in those countries
regardless of their current citizenship. In November 2003 the Bush administration agreed
to exempt Canadian travelers from these identification and monitoring regulations,
although they are still in effect for those without Canadian citizenship.11
After prolonged negotiations between the Canadian government and Syria, Arar was
released and returned to Canada in October 2003. He was never charged with a crime. He
has since sued the U.S. government, alleging that it was aware of Syria's policy of torture
and that it deported him in violation of U.S. law and treaty obligations with Canada.
Attorney General Gonzales responded that the United States had received assurances from
Syria that Arar would not be tortured.
The U.S. government has also been accused of holding and torturing foreign nationals in
its own secret prisons in violation of international law. According to one lawsuit filed by
the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the CIA in January 2004 took custody of German
citizen Khaled El-Masri, who had been arrested by the government of Macedonia while he
was vacationing in that country. The CIA took him to Afghanistan, where it held him for
four months in a prison known as the "Salt Pit." While in custody, El-Masri alleges that he
was beaten, threatened, and denied communication with a lawyer or his family. When he
and other prisoners began a hunger strike to protest the conditions of their detention, he
was force-fed and medicated under the supervision of American doctors. It is suspected
that El-Masri was detained because his name was similar to that of terrorism suspect
Khaled Al-Masri. He was warned as a condition of his release not to discuss his
detention.12
In May 2006 a U.S. District Court ruled that El-Masri could not sue the CIA and the U.S.
government for information about the extraordinary rendition program or for
compensation for his detention. The court stated that El-Masri's lawsuit could jeopardize
national security by forcing the government to disclose information about antiterrorism
strategies.
In September 2006, President Bush publicly acknowledged for the first time that the CIA
had operated secret prisons abroad. Some commentators have also alleged that the U.S.
operates secret prisons aboard naval ships.13 However, the president denied that torture
had been used in American-run facilities, saying American agents used "alternative"
interrogation methods to gather information from suspected terrorists. While these tactics
were "tough," the president said, they were also "safe and lawful and necessary." State
Department and administration officials said no detainees were being held in secret
prisons at that time, but maintained that the CIA still had the authority to detain and
question suspects in the manner described.
In response to President Bush's revelation, members of Congress began discussing new
legislation to govern the use of military tribunals for terrorism suspects. Senator Carl Levin,
a Michigan Democrat who became the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee
in January 2007, promised a full investigation into the extraordinary rendition program
and alleged abuses by the CIA. The European Parliament conducted an investigation of its
own and found that many European Union member states had assisted in the capture and
extraordinary rendition of suspects by the United States.14

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