The Military Police Complaints Commission is expected to rule whether Canadian military police knew, or could have been expected to know, that suspected Taliban prisoners faced torture after being turned over to Afghan authorities.
The quasi-judicial commission heard from 40 witnesses two years ago at hearings held against a bitter political backdrop that saw the Conservative government launch numerous legal battles to limit the scope of both the commission and a parliamentary committee also examining the issue.
The commission fought and won several court battles against the government, including the government’s high-profile effort to block the testimony of former Canadian diplomat Richard Colvin who said he had warned his bosses in Ottawa several times that detainees transferred from Canadian custody were being tortured or abused.
Government efforts to discredit Colvin brought an angry letter of condemnation from 23 ex-ambassadors.
The government also fought to withhold thousands of pages of documents from the commission and the committee of MPs, and only partly relented when threatened with a contempt of Parliament ruling.
The number of documents eventually released is allegedly a fraction of those the government still holds.
According to federal government figures, Canadian Armed Forces transferred 283 of 439 captives to Afghan authorities from 2001 to 2008.
Amnesty International Canada and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association filed the official complaint that led to the commission hearings and Wednesday’s report.
Specifically, they allege that on at least 18 occasions, eight military police transferred Afghan prisoners to Afghan authorities knowing there was likelihood they would be tortured.
Allegations about the detainees first surfaced in 2007 and over the next two years became an increasingly hot political issue for the government.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper eventually defused the issue when, in December 2009, he prorogued Parliament, he said, to consult Canadians about the economy.
Opposition calls for a full public inquiry failed, leaving the commission as the only official body that will ever likely probe the issue.
Original Article
Source: ottawa citizen
Author: Chris Cobb
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