A Canadian citizen who says he was tortured in a Syrian prison after being deported by the U.S. launched a lawsuit against the American government Thursday, seeking financial compensation and a declaration that the U.S. acted illegally.

Maher Arar's lawsuit was filed through a lawyer who represented him at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Attorney General John Ashcroft, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and FBI director Robert Mueller were among the officials named in the lawsuit, as well as 10 "John Does" who took part in Arar's detention and interrogation in the United States in the autumn of 2002.

Barbara Olshansky, attorney for Mahar Arar, holds a cable similar to the one her client was allegedly beaten with while imprisoned in Syria, at a news conference in New York (AP photo)

Barbara Olshansky of the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights called Arar's case a clear example of constitutional overreaching by the U.S. administration.

She said the lawsuit alleges that U.S. officials made the decision to deport Arar with the full knowledge that Syria practises state-sponsored torture, and that they intentionally deported him to acquire more knowledge about terrorism because Syria "can and does use methods that would not be legally or morally acceptable in this country."

The suit is being filed under the Torture Victims Protection Act, brought in by former U.S. president George Bush Sr. to help victims around the world.

Maher Arar pauses during news conference (CP photo)

Olshansky noted that this is the first case in which U.S. officials are being accused under that statute.

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She said Arar wants a declaration that "he is entirely innocent," as well as assurances that nobody else in his situation will be treated similarly.

He is also seeking damages for the economic losses he suffered during his 10 months in Syria, as well as for the mental and physical anguish endured by himself and his family.

"Until my name is cleared, neither I nor my family can move forward," Arar said from Ottawa after the lawsuit was filed.

"I am a family man, a husband and an engineer. I am not a terrorist."

He spoke vividly of his 10 months and 10 days in a Syrian prison, saying: "The screams of my fellow inmates filled my waking hours and remain with me to this day."

Arar added: "I hope my lawsuit will ensure that no one else ever again has to go through what I went through at the hands of the United States government."

He also called once more for the government of Canada to call an inquiry on his case, a move that Prime Minister Paul Martin has rejected until all current investigations by the RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service are complete.

"My own government is not without responsibility for what happened," Arar said.

He would not rule out a lawsuit against the Canadian government if it doesn't call a public inquiry.

U.S. authorities detained Arar at Kennedy airport in New York in September 2002, while he was on a flight back to Canada from Tunisia.

He was accused of having ties to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network and deported to Syria, the country where he was born.

Last November, Ashcroft defended the U.S. decision, saying it was legal and Syria gave assurances Arar would not be tortured.

The CBS news program 60 Minutes II reported on Wednesday night that Canadian authorities were told of Washington's plan to deport Maher Arar to Syria and that they approved.

The lawsuit is being launched on the heels of an RCMP raid into the home and offices of an Ottawa Citizen journalist as part of a criminal investigation into leaks in the case of Arar.

• FROM JAN. 21, 2004: Reporter's home searched by RCMP as part of Arar investigation

Police say they are conducting an investigation into an alleged breach of the Security of Information Act by reporter Juliet O'Neill, who wrote a story on the Arar case in November. The act makes it illegal to communicate leaked secret documents.