Maher Arar, a 35-year-old Canadian engineer, is suing the United States, saying American officials grabbed him in 2002 when he changed planes in New York and transported him to Syria where, he says, he was held for 10 months in a dank, tiny cell and tortured.US federal aviation records examined by The New York Times appear to corroborate Arar’s account of his flight. Arar, 35, of Ottawa, the subject of a year long inquiry by the Canadian government, is perhaps the best documented of a number of cases in which suspects have accused the United States of secretly delivering them to other countries, a practice known as rendition, for interrogation under torture.In papers filed in a New York court replying to Arar’s lawsuit, Justice Department lawyers say Arar was deported to Syria based on secret information that he was a member of the Al-Qaeda, an accusation he denies.Federal Aviation Agency records show that a Gulfstream III jet, tail number N829MG, followed a flight path matching the route he described. The flight, hopscotching from New Jersey to Virginia to Maine to Rome and beyond, took place on Oct. 8, 2002, the day after Arar’s deportation order was signed.According to FAA flight logs for Oct. 8, 2002, only one aircraft flew that route: the 14-passenger Gulfstream III jet, operated by Presidential Aviation, a charter company in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Nigel England, director of operations for Presidential, said he would not divulge who rented the Gulfstream that day or discuss any clients.Charles Miller, a Justice Department spokesman, said the government had no comment on the case. The administration has refused to cooperate with the Canadian inquiry into Arar’s case and has asked a judge to dismiss most of his lawsuit, saying that allowing it to proceed would reveal classified information.President Bush has said it is US policy neither to engage in torture nor to deliver prisoners to countries where they are likely to be tortured.
