Obama administration urges Supreme Court to reject appeal from Canadian mistaken for terrorist

US wants high court to stay out of rendition case

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is urging the Supreme Court to reject an appeal from a Canadian engineer who was caught up in the U.S. government’s secret transfer of terror suspects to other countries.

Syrian-born Maher Arar wants to sue the United States after he was mistaken for a terrorist when he was changing planes in New York, headed home to Canada, a year after the 2001 terrorist attacks. He was instead sent to Syria, where he claims he was tortured.

The administration says in court papers filed Wednesday that lower courts were right to dismiss Arar’s lawsuit, which asserts the U.S. purposely sent him to Syria to be tortured. Syria has denied he was tortured.

The Canadian government agreed to pay him almost $10 million.