This is Times 'Canadian Edition' Man of the Year, Maher Arar.
Interesting since he as a Canadian was deported by the U.S to Syria apparently because of ties to al queda.
Funny how one man of the year speaks of the injustices in some countries in the world,..ie human rights etc and another man of the year speaks that of the country (U.S) who unjustly treated him, and continue to uncooperate as to why Arar was deported and tortured in the first place.
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Ottawa...90421-sun.html
Rights crusader Arar Time's top newsmaker
By MEGAN GILLIS, Ottawa Sun
Local man's ordeal
... and Bush Person of the Year
AN OTTAWA man fighting to uncover the events that led to his deportation and torture in Syria is Time's Canadian Newsmaker of the Year. But Maher Arar never wanted to make the news.
"At the beginning, when I came back, I felt my nightmare would end there," he said yesterday. "Then I learned that would not be the case.
"It has been so hard on me and my family. I just wanted my life back. Now I have accepted I will never have my life and my career back. I just want my children to have theirs."
Arar never expected to be transformed from a workaholic engineer to a passionate rights crusader.
"This whole struggle has changed me completely as a person," he said. "I learned a big lesson: How important it is to speak out about injustice. People can get their rights back if they fight for them."
Time tells Arar's story in an article by Canadian bureau chief Steven Frank. The issue hits newsstands today.
The magazine's choice shows that Canadians have begun to see that everyone is hurt when rights are trampled in the name of security, Arar said.
He vows to keep fighting for the truth about what happened to him to come out but the outcome is now in the hands of Prime Minister Paul Martin and Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan.
The Canadian citizen was arrested at a New York airport as he returned from a family holiday in Tunisia. He was deported to his native Syria, where he was held for months and tortured until he confessed -- falsely -- to training with al-Qaida.
When his wife Monia Mazigh's tireless campaign secured his release, Arar didn't disappear. He pushed for an inquiry and took on the powerful, including U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and former PM Jean Chretien.
'COURAGE'
"For taking on the national security agencies in two countries; for standing up to anonymous allegations with courage, forcefulness and common sense; for stepping into the public realm despite the cost, Maher Arar is Time's Canadian Newsmaker of the Year," Frank wrote.
Arar has become a spokesman against the injustice and fear that have shadowed life in the West since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and raised questions about how Canadian law enforcement shares information with foreign governments, Frank wrote.
It was a tough choice, editor Adi Ignatius said. Editors pondered Auditor General Sheila Fraser, Alberta Premier Ralph Klein and Canada's few Olympic medallists, among others.
"Ultimately, though, there was one person who we felt symbolized the issues that are likely to be of lasting importance to Canada," Ignatius said. "That person is Maher Arar."