TORONTO (AP) -- A Canadian citizen deported to Syria last year by the United States spoke publicly about his ordeal for the first time Tuesday, detailing beatings he received in Syrian custody and calling for a public inquiry. Maher Arar of Ottawa, who spent a year in Syrian custody after being detained while traveling through New York's Kennedy airport in September 2002, choked up several times while describing the torture and solitary confinement. He believes an overzealous pursuit of terrorists in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States is partly to blame, but said only a full public inquiry in Canada can reveal what happened. That has to suck. |