Refuge

May have to start a new feature here: Adam Liptak Mondays, or something.

A judge in Canada has ruled that the United States has violated international conventions on torture and the rights of refugees.

n his studiously technical 124-page decision, Justice Phelan found that a one-year deadline for filing asylum claims here, enacted by Congress in 1996, had been applied in recent years in ways that violated the international convention on refugees.

He found a similar flaw in a provision of the USA Patriot Act that, as interpreted by the Bush administration’s immigration courts, allows people to be excluded for providing material support to terrorists — even if the support was coerced or under duress.

In other words, providing food at gunpoint may be material support of terrorism, as is paying ransom for a kidnapped relative.

Justice Phelan’s decision also cited the findings of a Canadian commission in the case of Maher Arar, a Canadian whom the United States sent to Syria, where the commission said he was tortured.

Canada has paid him more than $10 million, which is one way to respond to his ordeal. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently conceded in general terms that the matter had not been “handled as it should have been,” which is another.

Justice Phelan said the “real life” example of Mr. Arar made the contention that the United States does not comply with the torture convention “credible.”

Over/under -- how many years will it take for the U.S. to regain its status in the world?