The brother of an Ottawa man being held and allegedly tortured in a Syrian prison says he's "outraged" at the Canadian government for its lack of action in trying to get him released.

"The Canadian government isn't doing enough to get him back ... If it was a member of parliament's brother or family member I think more would be done to get him back safe and sound," Youssef Almalki told CTV's Canada AM.

Abdullah Almalki, a Syrian-born Canadian, has been held without charge in a Syrian prison since May 2002.

His family had spent months trying to determine exactly what was happening to him and were stunned Tuesday when another Syrian-Canadian revealed both had been kept in the same prison.

Maher Arar was held by Syria for over a year before being suddenly released last month.

Arar, who described Almalki as a casual acquaintance in Ottawa, said the 32-year-old electrical engineer was in bad physical condition and like himself, had been subjected to torture.

"What I can say for sure is that no human being deserves to be treated the way he was, and I hope that Canada does all they can to help him," said Arar, who was held in Syria for a year before he was suddenly released last month.

He said Almalki described being beaten and suspended upside down.

"It's still difficult to hear those descriptions. We were under the false hope that because he's a Canadian he would not endure such treatment in his imprisonment in Syria," Youssef Almalki said Thursday.

"It's gut wrenching when you think of what's happening to him and what's happening to his wife and family. He's a loving father and a loving husband," Youssef Almalki said.

The 25-year-old medical school student told Canada AM he wanted to pressure Prime Minister Jean Chretien to help get his brother, a father of five, back to his family in Canada.

"It's as if the prime minister is on a dock and my brother is drowning in front of him and he's caught up in the nostalgia of looking at the sky," he said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham was asked in the House of Commons on Thursday what the Liberal government was doing to help Almalki.

"We've requested consular access with respect to this gentleman. Up till now the Syrian government has taken the position that he's a Syrian citizen and they're not obliged to do that," Graham said.

He added that the Canadian government had said that answer was not satisfactory and he was waiting for a reply from the Syrian government.

Almalki was arrested at an airport in the Syrian capital of Damascus, according to Raja Khouri, national president of the Canadian Arab Federation.

Khouri has said the RCMP claimed that Almalki had exported electrical equipment to companies overseas and the material eventually fell into the hands of terrorists.

Arar was arrested in New York last fall and deported to Syria on suspicion he was linked to al Qaeda. Arar said U.S. officials apparently based the terrorism accusation on his connection to Almalki.

Arar has said the only evidence presented to him by U.S. immigration officials was a 1997 rental agreement witnessed and signed by Almalki.

Arar was friends with Almalki's brother in Ottawa and Almalki signed the rental agreement because his brother wasn't free to do so, according to Khouri.

Arar has demanded a public inquiry into what role the Canadian government or the RCMP played in his arrest in New York.

Chretien has declined to call an inquiry and blamed the United States.