Do Canadians torture, too?? Yes, they do.

B.C. Civil Liberties release documents detailing alleged Afghan torture

VANCOUVER - The B.C. Civil Liberties Association is releasing documents it says were sent to federal government officials detailing reports of torture against Afghan detainees.

The heavily censored documents describe interviews with several detainees who claimed they had been "whipped with cables, shocked with electricity and/or otherwise hurt" after they were transferred from the Canadian military into Afghan custody in Kandahar.

The association says the papers leave no doubt that Ottawa knows that Canadian-transferred detainees are subsequently tortured by Afghan authorities.

The government documents were released as part of court attempts by Amnesty International and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association to stop transfers of prisoners taken by Canadian troops in Afghanistan.

The association said the documents are an exchange between diplomatic and Department of Foreign Affairs personnel who visited facilities in Afghanistan. It claims that Aghanistan's National Directorate of Security engaged in forms of torture after prisoners were transferred into their custody by the Canadian military.

It states each detainee interview lasted between 15 and 60 minutes, in the absence of NDS officers. The documents note that the "atmosphere overall was surprisingly relaxed."

It is not clear from the document how many prisoners were interviewed.

All the detainees interviewed complained about "lack of clarity in their cases. They said they did not know why they are being held, nor did any seem to have been charged."

One claimed he'd been knocked unconscious during an interrogation and beaten "with electrical wires and rubber hose."

The documents says that when the man indicated the spot where the alleged assault took place, the interviewer "found a large piece of braided electrical wire as well as a rubber hose. He then showed us a bruise (approx. 4 inches long) on his back that could possibly be the result of a blow."

Association president Jason Gratl said the report proves that Canada knew that torture was happening.

"The denial of the existence of torture in Afghanistan are no longer plausible," he said. "The prime minister, in effect, is forced to act."

Representatives with the Department of Foreign Affairs could not be reached for comment.

Since last April, allegations have been dogging the government that some prisoners taken by the Canadian military were in turn abused after being handed over to the Afghan authorities.

Published reports on April 23 suggested as many as 30 prisoners had been mistreated by the Afghans.

Two days following those allegations, a prison visit was arranged for Corrections Canada officers and an official at Canada's provincial reconstruction base. Reports were filed that night to both the Foreign Affairs Department and the Correctional Service of Canada.

Gavin Buchan, the political director of the reconstruction base wrote how two prisoners came forward with complaints of mistreatment, despite being accompanied by NDS officers.

When confronted by deputy Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff in the House of Commons on April 26, Harper described claims of prisoner abuse as "baseless allegations."

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day was also quoted that day as saying: "We have no proof of the allegations."

However, the government negotiated its prisoner deal with the Afghans to give Canadian authorities the right to monitor those captured.

yeah, just like in America .. "We do not torture"

In Canada they just deny the evidence ..

See this link .. http://www.canadaoutofafghanistan.ca/articles/torture.html

CANADA TORTURES

Some background stories and information -

HERE is a google search link and then:

Savage beatings, electrocution, whipping and extreme cold: Detainees detail a litany of abuses by Afghan authorities

Detainees Detail a Litany of Abuses by Afghan Authorities

Torture of Detainees in Afghanistan

It's You Canadians Who Are Responsible for Torture ...
La Presse October 29, 2007

Several prisoners pass from the hands of Canadians to the secret services, then directly to the Sarpoza prison. Without a judge, without a trial and without a lawyer.

Canada does not torture the Taliban captured by its army. But it hands them over to Afghan authorities that are not so squeamish, according to what people say. Here is the first article in a large-scale investigation conducted on the ground by our special envoy who met several prisoners who were victims of torture.

Even though Ottawa concluded an agreement with the Afghan government in the spring, the prisoners captured by Canadian soldiers are still tortured on the premises of the secret services in Kandahar.

Beaten with bricks, deprived of sleep, nails torn out, given electric shocks. Some detainees must remain standing with their arms in the air for two days and two nights. Their feet become so swollen that their leg-irons cannot move. Others have their arms fastened behind their back and are hung from a wall, then beaten with electric cables.

What Ottawa doesn't want you to know: Government was told detainees faced 'extrajudicial executions, disappearances, torture and detention without trial'
Globe and Mail April 25, 2007

"The Harper government knew from its own officials that prisoners held by Afghan security forces faced the possibility of torture, abuse and extrajudicial killing, The Globe and Mail has learned.

But the government has eradicated every single reference to torture and abuse in prison from a heavily blacked-out version of a report prepared by Canadian diplomats in Kabul and released under an access to information request.

Initially, the government denied the existence of the report, responding in writing that "no such report on human-rights performance in other countries exists." After complaints to the Access to Information Commissioner, it released a heavily edited version this week.

Among the sentences blacked out by the Foreign Affairs Department in the report's summary is "Extrajudicial executions, disappearances, torture and detention without trial are all too common," according to full passages of the report obtained independently by The Globe.

The Foreign Affairs report, titled Afghanistan-2006; Good Governance, Democratic Development and Human Rights, was marked "CEO" for Canadian Eyes Only. It seems to remove any last vestige of doubt that the senior officials and ministers knew that torture and abuse were rife in Afghan jails."

Reporting on torture in Afghanistan
'The story is starting to make my life difficult as I am discovering that I have made many powerful enemies here in Afghanistan.' — Graeme Smith
>by Stefan Christoff May 4, 2007 (An interview with The Globe and Mail journalist Graeme Smith — a rabble.ca exclusive.) On Monday, April, 23, 2007, The Globe and Mail published a front-page feature article from correspondent Graeme Smith, which detailed experiences of torture by multiple Afghan prisoners captured by the Canadian military and transferred to Afghan authorities. The article, headlined “From Canadian custody into cruel hands,” made major political waves in Canada, sparking grassroots discussion across the country and debates in Parliament leading to calls from opposition political parties for Gordon O'Connor, the Minister of Defense, to resign from his. Graeme Smith was interviewed by telephone from Kandahar, Afghanistan concerning the report on torture under Canadian watch in Afghanistan and the political implications resulting from the article, on Canada's military mission in Afghanistan. Stefan Christoff: Can you explain the process of collecting the information and conducting the interviews for your break-through report on the torture of Afghan prisoners? Graeme Smith: In Kandahar it's very well known that the National Directorate of Security (NDS) tends to mistreat prisoners in custody and it is also very well known that the Canadian military hands over detainees to the NDS. So putting two and two together would seem very obvious, so it was a matter of just doing the leg work, going around working travel networks and having tea with NDS representatives in Kandahar City and generally trying to track these people down while also persuading the people who run the prison to open their doors in a way that they have never been open before for journalists, as best I know. The prison officials took some persuading but eventually granted me access to interview the prisoners and many of the details emerged from these interviews. Everyone in Kandahar has accepted this as the status quo. If you told someone in Kandahar City that the police or secret police are torturing people, no one would bat an eyelash but would shrug and say that's the way it is. What's interesting is that in the last few days, the fact that the Canadians appear to be upset about this has certainly caused waves in Kandahar City. Very high level politicians in Afghanistan are trying to do damage control as the issue is definitely getting some attention now. Stefan Christoff: As a reporter who has addressed multiple issues in Afghanistan, how does the issue of Afghan prisoner abuse illustrate the legitimacy of the current government of Afghanistan, which the Canadian government is so closely aligned with? Graeme Smith: The problem with the case of Afghanistan's police force is that no one calls the police or security services by their official name in Kandahar, no one refers to the National Directorate of Security or NDS, people often refer to the police as the KHAD, which is an acronym for the old Communist-era secret police in Afghanistan. About half the staff for the current National Directorate of Security according to a 2004 study, are old KHAD officers, so it's not particularly surprising that they behave like the old KHAD. Obviously the responsibility of the Canadian and other NATO forces in this situation is to try to pressure local authorities to improve the conduct of the National Directorate of Security — not only because a country like Canada has obligations under the Geneva Conventions, but also for their own tactical purposes on the ground because if you don't torture people then fewer people will be angry with you. Stefan Christoff: Clearly practices of torture on prisoners in local prisons are upsetting people in Kandahar. Can you describe or recount what former and current prisoners told you in terms of their experiences in Afghanistan's prisons? Thousands of people across Canada read and reacted to your article in The Globe and Mail but I am asking for you to convey in this interview the details regarding torture in Afghanistan's prisons. Graeme Smith: The prisoners told me that they were beaten, often beaten with electrical cables, which was the most common complaint. Some prisoners said that they were left outside for long periods of time during the short winter months when the temperatures here in Afghanistan dips below freezing. Others said that they were electrocuted and one man did make a particularly graphic description of being electrocuted with a hand-crank generator and flopping around on the floor like a fish. I have to tell you that these stories are very personally upsetting because just like the Canadian military here, I as a reporter have been dealing on a regular basis with the Afghan authorities. So although I had heard the rumours and innuendo concerning torture, I sat down with these men who pulled up their shirts to show me their scars, which clearly was very personally upsetting. Stefan Christoff: This is a reality that is understood and talked about in Afghanistan and you explained that within Kandahar people generally assumed that torture is taking place within Afghan prisons. For readers in Canada and throughout North America, your report on torture in Afghanistan is making major waves on a popular level and at the highest levels of the Canadian government, with calls for Gordon O'Connor, the Minister of Defense, to resign. How do you feel as the journalist who broke this important story? Graeme Smith: Well frankly, it makes my life difficult as a reporter who is trying to document what is happening here in southern Afghanistan and plans on documenting for a while what is happening here in southern Afghanistan — particularly when my report was picked up by BBC Pashto Radio and broadcast to all the local homes here in Kandahar. The story is starting to make my life difficult as I am discovering that I have made many powerful enemies here in Afghanistan. But I think it was extremely important to report on this issue because if I can help prevent the practice of torture in Afghanistan or anywhere, writing this story was worth the cost. Stefan Christoff is an independent journalist working with CKUT Radio Montreal & Free Speech Radio News.