OTTAWA—The RCMP, once blamed for its indirect role in Maher Arar’s 2002 Syrian prison ordeal, has criminally charged a then-high-ranking Syrian military intelligence officer with torture.

It is the first ever criminal charge of torture laid in Canada against a foreign government official for acts committed abroad. The RCMP issued Tuesday a Canada-wide warrant and an Interpol notice for the arrest of Col. George Salloum, who would now be in his mid- to late-50s.

The charge represents the culmination of a probe, dubbed Project Prism, launched when Arar filed a complaint in 2005 with the RCMP to hold to account government officials — Canadian, American, Jordanian and Syrian — responsible for his ordeal.

Unusually, the Mounties did not announce the ground-breaking move at their own news conference.

Instead, investigators left it to Arar’s wife, Monia Mazigh, his lawyer, Paul Champ, and Amnesty International to publicly reveal that Salloum is the first foreign official charged under the 30-year-old amendment to the Canadian Criminal Code.

The provision, added in 1985 after Canada ratified the UN Convention against Torture, carries a maximum 14-year jail term.

“It is my hope that George Salloum will be found alive, arrested and extradited to Canada to face Canadian justice,” said Arar, in a statement read out by his wife. He “was directly responsible for my torture” and was “involved in the torture of other Canadian citizens” detained at the notorious Far Falastin military intelligence prison in Damascus, said Arar.

But it’s far from clear, despite the RCMP’s investigation’s extraterritorial reach, that Salloum will ever be arrested, extradited, or prosecuted in a Canadian courtroom.

Amnesty International Canada secretary-general Alex Neve said the RCMP does not know if Salloum is alive. Its last information about his whereabouts suggested he was in Syria — a country ravaged by civil war.

Nevertheless, Amnesty hailed the charges as a vital precedent that “breaks the silence” around torture, and “pierces the impunity that surrounds and protects individuals like Col. George Salloum” who “directly inflicted and oversaw” beatings Arar suffered at the hands of his Syrian jailers.

Neve predicted the arrest warrant now opens up other avenues “of enquiry” and could lead international agencies to catch Salloum if he travels internationally.

“International justice is all about taking a lot of very small steps, and it’s the first small steps that are enormous and significant,” said Neve. “And this is one of those steps.”

Arar has declined interviews for the past two years, Mazigh said, because he still suffers nightmares and post-traumatic stress from his imprisonment, and decided to lead a more “private life.” She said they both reacted to word of the RCMP’s decision to charge Salloum with “incredulity.”

“He is the torturer of Maher Arar, he is the one who — I don’t know his face — but he represents the bad guy, the torturer, even though there are other people (involved),” she told reporters.

Arar overcame a deep distrust of the RCMP to participate in the investigation, she said. “It’s very difficult for my husband to build trust with everyone, let alone the RCMP.”

In 2006, a public inquiry did not find any Canadian official directly complicit in Arar’s rendition to Syria but it did conclude the RCMP’s erroneous information about possible links to Al Qaeda “very likely” led the Americans to deport Arar in the first place. He was shipped first to Jordan then to Syria, where he was detained, beaten and interrogated for about two weeks, then held in a grave-like cell for about a year.

The inquiry’s findings led the first Conservative government of Stephen Harper to issue a formal apology and offer Arar $10.5-million compensation and $1 million to cover his legal fees. American and Syrian officials refused to co-operate with the inquiry, and the U.S. long refused to offer an apology or to take Arar off its “no-fly” list.

Champ commended RCMP investigators for taking steps to build Arar’s confidence, calling the probe “fraught” with complexity, given it was the RCMP who gave “grossly inaccurate and inflammatory information” about Arar to the U.S.

Champ said Arar eventually provided the RCMP with “lengthy and candid taped interviews, responded to many requests for further information, reviewed photos, suggested contacts internationally, and granted access to all secret documentation that he’s obtained from his lawyers in the U.S. as well as in Canada.”

Three other Muslim Canadians detained in Syria — Ahmad El Maati, Muayyed Nureddin and Abdullah Almalki — also were held at the same prison as Arar, and Champ suggested they, too, participated in the RCMP investigation.

Champ said the prospect of charges being laid was like “a mirage” at times to Arar. He added the investigation was substantially completed about two years ago, when the file was sent to provincial and federal prosecutors’ offices who had to sign off on the charges. It also required the consent of federal Attorney General and Justice Minister Peter MacKay.

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But while Amnesty International urged the RCMP to continue its probe into others, including American and Canadian officials who played a role, the RCMP suggested it is not pursuing others, saying it had consulted with prosecutors to determine what charges the evidence could support.

“No additional charges are expected in this matter. The RCMP will now turn to focusing on locating Salloum,” wrote spokesperson Staff. Sgt. Julie Gagnon Gagnon.

Neve would not name which Canadian officials he blamed, and said criminal sanction is not the only way to hold those accountable, suggesting others should face “disciplinary” measures.

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