[JURIST] Leaders of Canada's three opposition political parties said Thursday that the government should launch an expanded probe into situations where Canadian citizens have been investigated by federal authorities but tortured abroad, echoing a similar request made by human rights groups [JURIST report] earlier this week. The request was prompted by the cases of Maher Arar [advocacy website] and Ahmad El Maati, who both claim they were arrested, detained and tortured in Syria by interrogators receiving information from Canadian and US authorities. A public inquiry [official website] has been made into Arar's case, but leaders of the New Democratic Party (NDP) [party website], the Conservative Party [party website], and the Bloc Quebecois [party website] have called for Canada's parliament to expand the inquiry to investigate El Maati's case and other individuals who may have suffered a similar fate. Alexa McDonough [official website], former leader of the NDP, said Parliament needs to "get to the bottom of the broader issue of whether Canada is indeed not just guilty of what happened in the Maher Arar case, but actually engaged in the contracting out of torture in a number of situations." Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin [official website] has declined commenting on El Maati's case and the government has no current plans to investigate the situation. From Toronto, the Globe and Mail has local coverage.