Arar leaks under investigation

Bump and update

Earlier this month Paul Martin "denounced" the leaks by anonymous sources that alleged ties between Maher Arar and al Qaeda, and Public Security Minister Anne McLellan's office announced there would be an investigation. The wheels appear to be in motion:

Mounties spent hours Wednesday searching the home and office of an Ottawa Citizen reporter who has written about the Maher Arar case, looking for evidence of a possible breach of the Security of Information Act.

Charges are believed to be pending against the reporter, said the newspaper's editor-in-chief, Scott Anderson.
...
Mr. Anderson said the RCMP search was being conducted in relation to Section 4 of the Security of Information Act, which contains broad prohibitions against unauthorized possession of sensitive government materials. The information law, based largely on the former Official Secrets Act, was passed shortly after September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.

Now, of course, it becomes a freedom of the press issue which further complicates the situation.

“I think this is a black, black day for freedom in this country and I'm absolutely outraged that we seem to be living in such a police state that journalists are targeted who are giving the public information that is of completely legitimate value to them,” Mr. Anderson said.

Mr. Anderson says he's outraged. Personally I was a bit outraged at some of the stories that were published based on single, unnamed sources so I'm not sure the Citizen is entirely blameless in this affair. But I am sure that the reporter and her employer shouldn't be the only ones under scrutiny and if national security was in fact breached, the culprits on the hook for that are the unnamed officials. It's not clear at this point whether the RCMP's actions are really intended to stifle the press or merely use this route to get at the leakers. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, it's been announced that Arar will file a multi-million dollar lawsuit against U.S. Attorney-General John Ashcroft. Arar is being assisted in this by the American Center for Constitutional Rights. This is in addition to a suit already launched against Syria. It appears that legal action is the only recourse Arar has to get both answers concerning, and compensation for, what happened to him. That leads me to wonder who in Canada he will sue. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see it happen and in the absence of a public inquiry I'd be inclined to encourage it. It seems some form of legal pressure is the only way to get to the bottom of this.

Damn Foreigner, a Canadian living in the US, is one of the bloggers who's been following the Arar case from the beginning and has detailed coverage on it. His blog is categorized and that link will take you to the appropriate section.

Via CalPundit, I've learned of an American named Katherine at Obsidian Wings who has also written a lot about it. That link is to the most recent post in her series which contains links to the previous posts.

Update:

Via Obsidian Wings, among others, here's the story by Juliet O'Neill that led to the searches noted above. After one reading, I have to say it's not one of the quick, smear pieces that were so objectionable though there are still no named sources. But it's actually one of the most detailed articles on the subject I've seen and I'm sorry I didn't see it when it was first published on Nov. 8th of last year. It's still not clear if O'Neill's really being charged, but the story is getting a lot of attention now, both in the blogosphere and the press.