Stop transferring Afghan detainees, Amnesty lawyer tells Canada

OTTAWA — Canadian Forces should not transfer Afghan detainees to Afghan-run prisons because they currently face a "serious and substantial" risk of torture, Amnesty International lawyer Paul Champ warned Wednesday.

Champ also predicted that it could take government-appointed former judge Frank Iacobucci two years or more to review the disclosure bans by government lawyers on hundreds of documents related to detainee transfers.

He told MPs at a House of Commons committee that while they are studying allegations of torture of transferred detainees in 2006-07, "there still remains the risk of torture" today.

He contended that knowingly transferring detainees when there is such a risk is a violation of a Geneva Convention treaty against inhumane treatment of combatants and non-combatants during armed conflict.

Champ's warning was based on recent reports of the prevalence of torture, the fact that Britain stopped transferring prisoners last year, and a temporary suspension of Canadian transfers in September when Defence Minister Peter MacKay cited two cases of abuse.

"Two is enough," Champ told reporters. He suggested Canada keep detainees imprisoned in their own facility as they did for a few months two years ago, instead of transferring them to the supervision of the Afghanistan National Security Directorate.

Recent reports citing torture and abuse include the U.S. State Department, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch.

In the Commons earlier Wednesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon was questioned about a news report, quoting a document in which the head of the Afghan National Security Directorate complained that diplomats from Canada, the U.K. and the Netherlands had reneged on a promise to build a new prison.

Cannon defended the current detainee transfer agreement and said Canada is not in the business of building prisons for Afghanistan.

Canada's government has released a quarterly report to Parliament on the mission in Afghanistan for the period ending Dec. 31, 2009. Among other things, it mentioned initiatives by Canadian civilian police and correctional services to increase the capacity of their Afghan counterparts to promote law and order.

The report said there was considerable transition during the quarter, from the conclusion of the Afghan presidential election through to the announcement of a major surge of American troops and resources.

It said the security environment for Canadian military and civilian operations continued to be "impeded by a dangerous and patient insurgency that seeks destabilization" through the use of roadside bombs and suicide attacks and the intimidation of local communities.