WASHINGTON — U.S. lawyers for Maher Arar demanded answers Tuesday about his treatment by American officials before he was deported to Syria and tortured.

The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights sent letters to Solicitor General Wayne Easter and U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft on the eve of their meeting Wednesday in Washington.

The centre wants to know why Arar, a Canadian, wasn't permitted to contact his consulate for more than seven days after he was detained on a flight stopover in New York and why there was no lawyer present or a formal hearing before he was deported.

Arar's treatment contravened the United Nations Convention against Torture and even the country's own Patriot Act that gave officials broad new policing and detention powers after Sept. 11, said lawyer Barbara Olshansky.

"There doesn't seem to be a basis for his treatment under any of these laws," she said in an interview.

"This is also about how we treat and work with out neighbours. This is a Canadian citizen who asked to go home."

U.S. officials repeatedly requested that Arar agree to voluntarily be sent to Syria, said Olshansky. Once there, he was tortured during a 10-month stay in a cell.

Easter hinted Tuesday in Ottawa that the case wasn't doing much for the warmth of relations and the future of information-sharing on national security issues between the two countries.

"If there was more cases like this . . . of course I believe it would jeopardize the relationship," said Easter. "We need to be assured that Canadian citizens, their rights, are not going to be affected by exchanges of information that may or may not be provided to the United States.

"We'll be having a discussion on how we can move forward as two countries . . . to ensure the rights of our citizens and all the due process that we believe should be in place."

Canada is requesting its own answers from U.S. officials, especially whether American authorities were acting on information provided by Canadian police suggesting that Arar had terrorist links.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has promised to look into the case.

The subject of calls for a public inquiry in Canada, Arar's case is gaining attention in the United States as an example of how civil rights have been eroded since the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Arar wants guarantees, said, Olshansky, that no one else will be "rendered" to a foreign government for interrogation and torture.

The centre, which also represents several "enemy combatants" challenging their detention without charge at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is drafting a complaint for Arar to be filed in U.S. Federal Court within the next couple of weeks.

Arar wants acknowledgement that U.S. officials violated international law and his constitutional rights. He is also seeking damages from the federal officers who held him.