Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, responding to a letter from senior U.S. officials that claimed intelligence in Washington indicated Arar belongs on the watchlists, said Ottawa would continue to press its case to have the engineer’s name cleared.

“We’re aware that the United States has other information ... It simply does not alter our opinion that Mr. Arar is not a threat, nor is his family,” Day said.

Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian, is the best-known case of extraordinary rendition, a practice in which the U.S. government sends foreign terror suspects to third countries for interrogation.

He was detained at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport in 2002 during a stopover on his way home to Canada from a vacation with his family in Tunisia. The United States turned him over to Syria, where he says he was tortured and kept in a dark cell for nearly a year.

A Canadian inquiry last fall determined that Arar was indeed tortured and cleared him of any terrorist links or suspicions. Since then, Ottawa has been demanding a formal apology from Washington for its rendition, as well as clearing his name from its watchlists.

In a letter released Monday, U.S. Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said U.S. files on Arar show the decision to keep Arar on watchlists is “appropriate.”

“Our conclusion in this regard is supported by information developed by U.S. law enforcement agencies that is independent of that provided to us by Canada with regard to Mr. Arar,” the letter from Chertoff and Gonzales states.

“We want to ensure that this U.S.-derived information has been shared with Canada, and that both countries have an accurate understanding of the facts,” the letter says, going on to thank Canada for its cooperation in fighting terrorism.

But Day said Canadian officials looked at the U.S. information and found nothing new to suggest Arar was a safety risk.

The U.S. District Court of Appeals last February dismissed Arar’s lawsuit against U.S. government officials, ruling the deportation of the dual Syrian-Canadian citizen was protected on national security grounds. His attorneys with the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights filed an appeal in December.

The new chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Democrat of Vermont Patrick Leahy, last week scolded Gonzales for refusing to explain why the United States sent a Canadian citizen to Syria and lectured him about the alleged practice of extraordinary rendition.

“It is a black mark on us,” Leahy said.

Leahy threatened that if Gonzales failed to respond about the case of Arar in a timely fashion, he would hold a formal hearing dedicated solely to Arar’s case.

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