An Iraqi-born Canadian who says he was tortured while in Syrian custody wants to be included in the inquiry into Maher Arar's case.

Muayyed Nureddin, a Toronto-area geologist, was arrested in December as he crossed into Syria by bus. He'd been visiting relatives in Iraq and was attempting to fly home from Damascus.

"A Syrian official told me I'd never see the sun again," said Nureddin.

Muayyed Nureddin (CP photo)

The 36-year-old says he was kept in an underground cell and in one instance, tortured. He says he was forced to lie on the ground while his feet were splashed with cold water and he was beaten with cables.

• FROM JAN 15, 2004 Canadian released from Syrian jail back home

"I was told the chair would be used next time. This is a chair frame in which a person is pushed and then his back bent," said Nureddin. "I couldn't walk for a number of days after this session."

Syrian officials questioned him about his connections to an Islamic school in Toronto, he said.

Nureddin says he lived in fear during his month-long detention, never asking for a meeting with Canadian officials because he was too scared to.

When he was released, Nureddin says he told CSIS and the government what had happened to him.

Alex Neve of Amnesty International says Nureddin's situation needs to be added to the scope of the inquiry into the case of Maher Arar, a former Syrian prisoner from Canada who was also tortured.

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"What happened to Maher Arar was not an exceptional and isolated case," said Neve.

Neve and Nureddin's lawyer says the Canadian government must explain its practice providing foreign governments information about Canadians who are travelling abroad.