Monia Mazigh feels the Canadian government and its citizens still have a lot to learn from the illegal detainment and torture of her husband, Maher Arar.
Monia Mazigh, wife of Canadian Maher Arar, remains a strong advocate for human rights and frequently speaks out against torture. Mazigh spoke about her struggle for justice as part of the Faculty of Law’s Distinguished Speaker Series.
A fierce advocate, Mazigh spoke about her struggle to obtain justice for her husband as part of the Faculty of Law’s Distinguished Speaker Series on April 2.
“When I came to Canada 17 years ago I knew I was coming to a country where people were free and where each person’s rights were respected. Over the past seven years I learned just how precious and how fragile those rights and those freedoms truly are for all of us,” she says.
Returning to Canada after a family vacation in Tunisia in September 2002, Arar was detained by United States officials at New York’s JFK International Airport on suspicion of terrorist ties. He was later flown to Jordan and then transferred to Syria in October 2002, where he was tortured and spent a year in solitary confinement.
With two young children by her side, Mazigh started a tenacious campaign, soliciting the attention of journalists and government officials, to free her husband, who was being held without charge.
“I couldn’t allow my husband’s fate or my own to be decided by others,” she says. “I didn’t want to fight injustice by silence or indifference.”
Arar was released from prison on October 5, 2003. An inquiry was held to determine the role of Canadian officials in Arar’s illegal imprisonment. Although her husband was exonerated from having any terrorist connections, Mazigh says “we are still living under the shadow of what happened to us.”
She has since dedicated her life to advocating for civil liberties and human rights.
“I believe that Canadians who value freedom and rights must be engaged. If we fall short, or worse fail to act, our rights are threatened and we risk becoming complicit.”
After the 9-11 attacks in New York, intrusions into the private lives of citizens became normalized in the name of protecting civil liberties. She is “disturbed” by those who defend the use of torture if it will lead to intelligence about terrorists or to save people’s lives.
“How can we consider using such methods and condemn human rights violations abroad?” she asks.
What happened after 9-11 was not unique, she says, noting there are many examples in history where governments waged a so-called ‘war on terror’ to divide the world into good and bad.
Since her husband was detained and tortured, several other people, including some Canadians, have suffered a similar fate. “My husband’s case is the tip of the iceberg,” she says.
Muslim and Arab communities continue to be targeted, leading to widespread suspicion, fear and trauma. In particular, women and children are suffering in silence, she says.
She challenges Canadian citizens to engage in debate about national security laws and practices. She also urged Western’s law students to study international law and to make pro bono work a part of their legal practice from the beginning.
Mazigh continues to add her voice to those raising awareness about cases of torture and abuse committed in the name of national security.
“While Maher Arar is back, there are still other people who are suffering and I don’t think we really learned real lessons from his ordeal,” she says.
She has written a new book, titled Hope and Despair: My Struggle to Free My Husband, Maher Arar and it is available at The Book Store at Western.
She holds a PhD in finance from McGill University and has worked at the University of Ottawa and taught at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, B.C.