Back when the Canadian Commission on Maher Arar issued its report, I had noticed that in this report it had stated that the Canadian government should be "more restrictive" of their intelligence to countries with "questionable human rights" records.
Well, it appears that the Canadian government actually listened somewhat to this report and now officially regards "the land of the free" as "the land of the torturers". What's more, the Canadian government now trains its U.S. diplomats on how to look out for torture.
The goal of the workshop was to teach diplomats who visit Canadians in foreign jails how to tell if they've been tortured. It also listed countries and places with greater risks of torture. The list includes Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, and China. But surprisingly, it also included the United States, Guantanamo Bay, and Israel.
It notes specific "U.S. interrogation techniques," which include "forced nudity, isolation, and sleep deprivation." The U.S. has repeatedly denied allegations by international groups that it tortures prisoners captured in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. However, U.S. officials have refused to comment on the Canadian list.
Now, this new controversy surrounds an under-aged Canadian detainee, named Omar Khadr, who was captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan and brought to Gitmo at the tender age of... 15.
Khadr's lawyers are now questioning the Canadian government as to why more hasn't been done to get Khadr out of that war-crimes hell-hole -- and brought to proper justice in the Canadian court of law. Indeed, this completely contradicts what PM Stephen Harper has told Canadians about treatment Khadr is receiving at Guantanamo Bay.
As Amir Attaran, a University of Ottawa law professor explains to CTV (who broke the story),
"Canada has just admitted we believe torture is possible in Guantanamo Bay," Attaran told Canada AM.
"That clashes terribly with what Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said, that Mr. Khadr, who is in Guantanamo Bay and was a child at the time he was put there, is being given a (quote, unquote) appropriate judicial process. Torture is not an appropriate judicial process."
He said torture is strictly prohibited by international law, and suggested that the Canadian government's refusal to demand Khadr's release from Guantanamo is purely political.
"Out of a desire to appear tough on the war on terror, Mr. Harper has put this set of considerations out the window, and that's not appropriate, we have to obey the law," Attaran said.