The extraordinary renditions of Maher Arar and Abdullah Almalki : Orientalism, Islamophobia, and the erosion of citizenship and human rights

Extraordinary rendition has gained significant notoriety as an inhuman practice against suspected terrorists in the "war on terror". It is a highly controversial initiative whereby many critics contend that the purpose of such renditions is to subject the suspects to aggressive methods of persuasion such as torture and other human rights violations that are illegal in Western liberal democracies. The CIA implemented the extraordinary rendition program, but other Western states have participated in the rendering of Muslims to the CIA's global web of secret prisons. Canada was involved with the renditions of two Muslim-Canadians, Maher Arar and Abdullah Almalki. This paper will discuss their respective renditions and the ideological machinations that fuel the extraordinary rendition program using Edward Said's theory of Orientalism and its relationship with Islamophobia. A lexical discourse analysis will be integrated into the paper to evaluate negative Muslim identity construction in Canada post-9/11.