Some countries think that torture is actually worth losing one's job over

Canada's top policeman quits over deportation case


By David Ljunggren
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's top policeman resigned on Wednesday, a day after he admitted misleading legislators about how his force had botched the case of a Canadian deported to Syria by U.S. agents.

The position of Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli had become increasingly untenable since September, when an official report said police had falsely told Washington that software engineer Maher Arar was a suspected Islamic extremist.

"The commissioner has indicated to me that it would be in the best interests of the RCMP to have new leadership," Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the House of Commons, describing Zaccardelli's decision as appropriate.

In a letter to Harper, Zaccardelli said the controversy surrounding the case was making it increasingly difficult for him and for the Mounties. "Clearly, the RCMP and I depend upon the confidence of Canadians and their elected representatives. Without this we cannot succeed," he wrote.

Critics said the case showed that Canadian authorities had been too eager to share information with the United States in their rush to boost security after the September 11 suicide attacks, and had compromised national sovereignty, .

U.S. agents arrested Arar in 2002 during a stopover in New York and accused him of belonging to al-Qaeda.

Arar, who holds dual Canadian-Syrian citizenship, was deported to Syria, where he says he was repeatedly tortured. He was released in 2003 and is now suing Ottawa for damages.

In September Zaccardelli told Parliament's public safety committee he had first learned in 2002 that police had passed on inaccurate information to U.S. authorities.

But on Tuesday he changed his story and told the same committee that he had in fact not become aware of the problem until the release of the report, which condemned police incompetence and dishonesty.

Legislators bluntly told Zaccardelli they did not believe him and several demanded his resignation.

The incident proved to be the last straw for Harper and Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, who had until that point strongly defended the police chief.

The opposition Liberals accused Day of botching the case, saying he had known since early November that there were problems with Zaccardelli's testimony.

"You, you, you are the government. When are you going to start to act like one and take responsibility for your conduct?" demanded Liberal legislator Michael Ignatieff.

Day responded by saying that the previous Liberal government -- which ruled from 1993 to 2006 -- had been too slow to react after Arar was jailed.

Kerry Pither, a spokeswoman for the organizations that had intervenor status at the inquiry that produced the report, described Zaccardelli's resignation as a good first step.

"But many agencies and departments were involved in what happened to Maher Arar and we need accountability from all of them," she said.

Arar is due to react on Friday.

Testimony to the inquiry showed that the foreign ministry and Canadian Security Intelligence Service had also been involved in the case.

The judge who led the probe will issue another report next Tuesday in which he is expected to recommend an independent oversight panel for the RCMP be set up.

Original article posted here.