OTTAWA — The judge overseeing the inquiry into Maher Arar's imprisonment in Syria has asked the federal government to open up the process by waiving legal restrictions.

Justice Dennis O'Connor is especially concerned about anti-terrorism measures in the Canada Evidence Act that bar him from disclosing any ruling on the need to keep documents secret to protect national security.

Under legislative changes made after terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, such decisions can't be revealed unless the Attorney General or a Federal Court judge allows it.

"On their face, the breadth of these provisions clearly detracts from the transparency of the inquiry," O'Connor said in a decision released Thursday.

"Indeed, the provisions do not appear to sit well with the whole idea of a public inquiry."

Arar's lawyer had argued for a constitutional challenge of the restrictions.

Instead, O'Connor has asked Ottawa to waive relevant aspects of the Evidence Act as they relate to the inquiry.

"The government is considering it," said Stephen Bindman, a spokesman for the government's legal team.

Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian, was detained in New York in September 2002 on suspicions of involvement in Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.

The Ottawa telecommunications engineer, travelling on a Canadian passport, was then deported to Syria by U.S. authorities where he was imprisoned for 10 months.

Arar, 34, says he was tortured by Syrian officials before being released last year. He denies any involvement in terrorism.

The inquiry was called to trace the events that led to Arar's ordeal. It has already revealed that the RCMP was in contact with U.S. authorities during the period before his deportation.

Debate over what documents should be disclosed to Arar's legal team and the public is key to the investigation.

O'Connor also decided Thursday to delay the public portion of the hearings, including testimony from Arar's family, for a second time.

Instead, he will privately hear arguments from the RCMP and CSIS (the Canadian Security Intelligence Service) starting Sept. 13.

He will then rule on whether the release of certain documents would threaten national security, defence or international relations.

O'Connor re-ordered the sequence of hearings in the hopes that, if his ruling on documents is challenged, it will involve a single proceeding and not multiple challenges that could delay the inquiry for months, said inquiry spokeswoman Francine Bastien.

Public hearings that were to be held the last two weeks of July now aren't expected until sometime this fall. Those witnesses include Arar's wife, Monia Mazigh.

"We hope to get into the public hearings sometime in the fall but it's hard to estimate right now," said inquiry lawyer Paul Cavalluzzo.