Ahmad El-Maati

Abstract is: Ahmad Abou El-Maati (Arabic: أحمد أبو المعاطي) (born October 1, 1964) is a Canadian citizen who was arrested, tortured, and detained for two and a half years in Syrian and Egyptian prisons, as a result of deficient information sharing by Canadian law enforcement officials. The Canadian government apologized to Mr. El-maati in 2017, after reaching a monetary settlement with him and two other torture victims, putting an end to nearly 10 years of litigation. His ordeal began when he was found with a visitor's map to Ottawa and had plans to travel to Syria to get married. This evidence, as well as the post-September 11 fear, led Canadian law enforcement officials to wrongly suspect him of terrorism. He is the brother of suspected Al-Qaeda member Amer el-Maati.