# Maher Arar

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Maher Arar," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/maher-arar/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*Canadian-Syrian political-science professor at the University of Toronto; in 2002, returning from a family visit in Tunis, was seized by the FBI at JFK at CIA request, secretly rendered to Damascus, and tortured by Syrian intelligence for eight to nine months until they concluded he was the wrong man. The U.S. denied any involvement to the Canadian government until Arar's wife produced a credit-card receipt from his return flight. He sued the U.S. and lost on national-security grounds, then sued the Canadian government and won six million dollars. Per John Kiriakou, his case is the canonical illustration of the CIA rendition program rendering the wrong person.*

- **Profession:** Political-science professor, University of Toronto
- **Date of rendition:** Summer 2002
- **Seized at:** JFK airport, by FBI at CIA request, while transiting from Tunis to Toronto
- **Rendered to:** Damascus
- **Duration of torture:** Eight to nine months
- **Outcome:** Syrians concluded he was the wrong man; released
- **U.S. lawsuit:** Sued in the Eastern District of Virginia; case dismissed with prejudice on national-security grounds
- **Canadian lawsuit:** Won six million dollars
- **Subsequent life:** Agoraphobic; per Kiriakou, has not left the four walls of his house in fifteen years

**Maher Arar** is a Canadian-Syrian political-science professor at the University of Toronto. In the summer of 2002, returning from a family visit in Tunisia via JFK, he was secretly seized by the FBI at CIA request, *"completely off the books,"* and rendered to Damascus, where he was tortured by Syrian intelligence for eight to nine months. Per [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) — then chief of counterintelligence in the [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia)'s Bin Laden unit, the Bin Laden unit run by [Cofer Black](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cofer-black) (known internally as Alec Station) — Arar's seizure was a mistake from the start.[1][2]

## The intra-CIA dissent before the snatch

A group of CIA officers — Kiriakou among them — went to the chief of operations of the Bin Laden unit run by [Cofer Black](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cofer-black) (known internally as Alec Station), known internally as *"the redheaded devil"* (the figure later portrayed by Jessica Chastain in *Zero Dark Thirty*), and pushed back: *"This is the wrong guy. We're snatching the wrong guy."* The chief refused. *"This is a political-science professor in Canada. He's not an al-Qaeda mastermind."*[3][2]

## The cover-up that collapsed on a duty-free sunglasses receipt

The U.S. asked the FBI to grab Arar when he transferred at JFK, off the books, and turn him over for rendition. He was flown to Damascus. The U.S. then *"denied and denied and denied to the Canadians that he was ever on that plane."*[4]

A month later, with the Canadian government still telling Arar's wife her husband had never been on the flight, she produced a credit-card receipt: Arar had bought a pair of sunglasses for her in the duty-free cart in the hour before landing. *"And the Canadians were like, 'Oh shit. The Americans have him.'"* The CIA then quietly told the Syrians to let him go.[5][6] In another telling, Kiriakou places the sunglasses purchase itself as the proof: Arar, seized by the FBI at the gate at JFK and turned over to the CIA, had bought a pair of sunglasses for his wife on the in-flight duty-free cart, which later established that he had in fact been on the plane.[7]

Kiriakou says he was among a number of CIA officers who told their superiors at the time that Arar was the wrong man — *"this guy has a similar name but this Mahar, he's just a professor at some university in Toronto"* — warnings that were not heeded.[8] In some tellings Kiriakou gives the duration of Arar's torture in Syria as roughly nine months,[7] in others as eighteen months.[9][10]

## The two lawsuits

Arar sued the U.S. government in the Eastern District of Virginia. The CIA appeared in court and said *"Your Honor, national security."* The judge dismissed the case with prejudice.[6][11]

He then sued the government of Canada — which Kiriakou says had been told by the CIA that Arar was al-Qaeda and, as a Five Eyes intelligence partner, went along with it — and won six million dollars.[12][11] Kiriakou says all Arar really wanted from the American government was an apology, which he never received, since it is U.S. policy not to apologize.[8]

## Aftermath

Per Kiriakou, who interviewed Arar for his podcast roughly five years ago: *"He said, 'I have developed such agoraphobia. I haven't left the four walls of my house in fifteen years. Even to be on a Zoom call, I just can't do it. I'll have a panic attack. I'll have to be hospitalized.'"* Kiriakou: *"We ruined his life."*[12][13] In a separate telling, Kiriakou says Arar is now a political-science professor at the University of Toronto and that his PTSD is so severe he had not left his house in six years, teaching his classes online.[14]

## See also

The other canonical wrong-rendition case Kiriakou pairs with Arar is [Khalid El-Masri](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/khalid-el-masri).

- [Khaled El Masri](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/khalid-el-masri)
- [Mohamedou Ould Slahi](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/mohamedou-ould-slahi)
- [Guantanamo Bay](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/guantanamo-bay)
- [Enhanced interrogation techniques](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/enhanced-interrogation)
- [Cofer Black](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cofer-black)

## Sources

1. The Cost of Telling the Truth | John Kiriakou | Ep. 446 (2026-05-04), at 1:36:36. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JeTlw4Zy3o&t=5796s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-04-cleared-hot-446-cost-of-truth/
2. The Cost of Telling the Truth | John Kiriakou | Ep. 446 (2026-05-04), at 1:37:38. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JeTlw4Zy3o&t=5858s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-04-cleared-hot-446-cost-of-truth/
3. The Cost of Telling the Truth | John Kiriakou | Ep. 446 (2026-05-04), at 1:37:06. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JeTlw4Zy3o&t=5826s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-04-cleared-hot-446-cost-of-truth/
4. The Cost of Telling the Truth | John Kiriakou | Ep. 446 (2026-05-04), at 1:38:09. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JeTlw4Zy3o&t=5889s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-04-cleared-hot-446-cost-of-truth/
5. The Cost of Telling the Truth | John Kiriakou | Ep. 446 (2026-05-04), at 1:38:39. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JeTlw4Zy3o&t=5919s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-04-cleared-hot-446-cost-of-truth/
6. The Cost of Telling the Truth | John Kiriakou | Ep. 446 (2026-05-04), at 1:39:10. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JeTlw4Zy3o&t=5950s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-04-cleared-hot-446-cost-of-truth/
7. CIA Spy Breaks Silence on Epstein Cover-Up, Mossad & Trump (2025-07-14), at 2:04:56. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HStqERfZbPw&t=7496s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-07-14-danny-jones/
8. John Kiriakou Addresses the 2016 NHLA Liberty Dinner (2016-07-11), at 51:24. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1Un-IY3vlc&t=3084s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2016-07-11-adventures-in-the-free-sta/
9. John Kiriakou Speaks at Quaker House (2015-11-12), at 1:20:17. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2GbWGoIW6w&t=4817s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2015-11-12-quakerhouse/
10. John Kiriakou Addresses the 2016 NHLA Liberty Dinner (2016-07-11), at 50:53. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1Un-IY3vlc&t=3053s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2016-07-11-adventures-in-the-free-sta/
11. CIA Spy Breaks Silence on Epstein Cover-Up, Mossad & Trump (2025-07-14), at 2:06:31. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HStqERfZbPw&t=7591s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-07-14-danny-jones/
12. The Cost of Telling the Truth | John Kiriakou | Ep. 446 (2026-05-04), at 1:39:40. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JeTlw4Zy3o&t=5980s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-04-cleared-hot-446-cost-of-truth/
13. The Cost of Telling the Truth | John Kiriakou | Ep. 446 (2026-05-04), at 1:40:12. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JeTlw4Zy3o&t=6012s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-04-cleared-hot-446-cost-of-truth/
14. CIA Spy Breaks Silence on Epstein Cover-Up, Mossad & Trump (2025-07-14), at 2:07:02. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HStqERfZbPw&t=7622s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-07-14-danny-jones/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/maher-arar/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt