The Toronto Star is reporting the U.S. government is attempting to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Canadian citizen Maher Arar, claiming the litigation would jeopardize national security. Two years ago the Syrian-born software engineer was detained by US official while on a stopover in New York. He was then jailed and secretly deported to Syria. He was held for almost a year in an underground cell not much larger than a grave where he was reportedly tortured. Time Magazine in Canada recently named him the country’s newsmaker of the year. Now the U.S. government is attempting to have a lawsuit filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights dismissed. Invoking the rarely used “state secrets privilege” the Justice Department claims that any release of information on Arar could jeopardize “intelligence, foreign policy and national security interests of the United States.” Arar’s attorney Maria LaHood said “They’re asking the court to sanction their cover-up basically.” Update: Read PDF of the Justice Department’s “Memorandum in Support of the United States’ Assertion of States Secrets Privilege” — posted on Secrecy News]