Maher Arar, an Ottawa man who was detained by U.S. authorities four years ago and deported to Syria where he was tortured, says he suspects he still might be on some kind of a government blacklist.

The Syrian-born computer engineer, who is a Canadian citizen, said in an interview published Thursday that he was left angry and shaken after running into problems during a recent domestic flight.

Maher Arar has raised question about how Canada's airport security screening system is working.
(CBC)

"Is my name on a list?" Arar asked in the interview with the Globe and Mail. "If so, what kind? Who put my name on the list? And how to I get my name off?"

An international controversy ensued after Arar was arrested at a New York airport while returning from a vacation in 2002. U.S. officials accused him of links to al-Qaeda and deported him to Syria.

When Arar returned to Canada more than a year later, he said he had been tortured during his incarceration and accused American officials of sending him to Syria knowing that they practise torture.

Sent through extra security screening

Arar told the Globe and Mail that he arrived at Montreal's Pierre Elliot Trudeau Airport for a June 23 trip to Edmonton only to be met with a series of obstacles.

He said his name wasn't in the reservation system that would allow him to use an automated check-in kiosk.

A ticketing agent at the Air Canada counter also had trouble getting the system to create a boarding pass for Arar.

The agent spent 15 minutes on the phone before sending Arar through security screening and to the gate with a boarding pass marked "S-S-S-S" — a code for "selected for secondary security screening."

Lack of homegrown no-fly list could be problem

Arar said he wondered whether his name continues to raise red flags because Transport Canada has not yet developed its own master no-fly list. As a result, airline employees are forced to rely on foreign databases and their own instincts.

An Air Canada official could not discuss details of the case but said there could be benign explanations for Arar's difficulties.

A Canadian judicial inquiry into Arar's deportation and detention is scheduled to deliver its long-delayed report in September.

With files from the Canadian Press