Leading Democratic and Republican congressmembers are calling on the Bush administration to apologize to Maher Arar for his wrongful imprisonment and torture. Arar is the Canadian citizen seized by U.S. officials during a stopover flight in New York in 2002. He was secretly sent to Syria as part of the Bush administration’s extraordinary rendition program. In Syria, Arar was held for almost a year in a grave-like cell and repeatedly tortured. He was released without ever being charged with a crime. On Thursday, Arar testified to the House Judiciary and Foreign Affairs Committee by video conference because he remains barred from entering the United States. The Bush administration maintains that Arar poses a national security threat. Democratic Congressmember Jerrold Nadler of New York said he reviewed Arar’s confidential file and found the government has no evidence against him. Nadler said: “This was a kidnapping. … There is nothing there to justify the continuation of this campaign of vilification against you or to deny you entry into this country.” Republican Congressmember Dana Rohrabacher, a backer of the administration’s rendition program, added: “I join in offering an apology, and I wish our government could join me in doing this officially.”