Secret documents flag Tory spin on conditions in Afghan jails
OTTAWA—Federal officials are worried that the Conservatives' rosy public pronouncements on Afghan detainees were starkly at odds with the grim reality in Kandahar jails that failed to meet basic international standards, documents reveal.
A panel of judges spent the past year reviewing the decision by federal officials to censor large swaths of information. Much of it, as it turns out, was to keep secret the number of detainees taken by the Canadian military, the names of detainees and Afghan officials, and diplomatic dealings with the Afghan government or officials with the Red Cross and Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.
David Mulroney, who was head of the Afghanistan Task Force until 2009, said the “United Nations standards” that officials believed Afghanistan's jails were not meeting referred to the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. In part, they say prisoners should have access to bathrooms and medical care, should not be shackled and should not be subjected to corporal punishment.
The release of the documents ends an issue that has dogged the Tories almost since they took office in 2006.
This special committee to decide which documents could be released to the public was struck a year ago and included all federal parties except the NDP, which objected to the lack of transparency and refused to participate. The documents reveal little specific new evidence that Canadian commanders knowingly passed on detainees to be tortured — the benchmark for violations of humanitarian law and laws of war. Nor do they free Ottawa of the charge that they should have known there was a risk of mistreatment.
But Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Canadian soldiers transferred “Taliban detainees” to Afghan authorities “in accordance with our international obligations.” And he said Canadian personnel acted with the “utmost integrity and respect for the rule of law.” Of the reported 25,000 pages of material under review by a panel of three judges for potentially damaging national security details, more than 4,000 pages were released.
The first “credible evidence” of prison abuse came in November 2007 when a detainee alleged he'd been beaten with electrical cables and a rubber hose, which were later found in the interrogation room. Since then, there have been nine more allegations made by Canadian-transferred detainees — three each in 2009, 2010 and 2011. All involved slapping or verbal abuse.
Secret documents flag Tory spin on conditions in Afghan jails - thestar.com
OTTAWA—Federal officials are worried that the Conservatives' rosy public pronouncements on Afghan detainees were starkly at odds with the grim reality in Kandahar jails that failed to meet basic international standards, documents reveal.
A panel of judges spent the past year reviewing the decision by federal officials to censor large swaths of information. Much of it, as it turns out, was to keep secret the number of detainees taken by the Canadian military, the names of detainees and Afghan officials, and diplomatic dealings with the Afghan government or officials with the Red Cross and Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.
David Mulroney, who was head of the Afghanistan Task Force until 2009, said the “United Nations standards” that officials believed Afghanistan's jails were not meeting referred to the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. In part, they say prisoners should have access to bathrooms and medical care, should not be shackled and should not be subjected to corporal punishment.
The release of the documents ends an issue that has dogged the Tories almost since they took office in 2006.
This special committee to decide which documents could be released to the public was struck a year ago and included all federal parties except the NDP, which objected to the lack of transparency and refused to participate. The documents reveal little specific new evidence that Canadian commanders knowingly passed on detainees to be tortured — the benchmark for violations of humanitarian law and laws of war. Nor do they free Ottawa of the charge that they should have known there was a risk of mistreatment.
But Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Canadian soldiers transferred “Taliban detainees” to Afghan authorities “in accordance with our international obligations.” And he said Canadian personnel acted with the “utmost integrity and respect for the rule of law.” Of the reported 25,000 pages of material under review by a panel of three judges for potentially damaging national security details, more than 4,000 pages were released.
The first “credible evidence” of prison abuse came in November 2007 when a detainee alleged he'd been beaten with electrical cables and a rubber hose, which were later found in the interrogation room. Since then, there have been nine more allegations made by Canadian-transferred detainees — three each in 2009, 2010 and 2011. All involved slapping or verbal abuse.
Secret documents flag Tory spin on conditions in Afghan jails - thestar.com
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