They knew and they lied

For 2 weeks now, the government has said that they had no knowledge that detainees were being tortured. The below story shows that to be patently false. One of the reasons that we have the Geneva Conventions is to prevent the torture of prisoners captured in military conflict. The government denied knowledge of torture. They knew and they lied. Who knew what and when....


OTTAWA--“Canadian troops in Kandahar were so disturbed by the beating of a prisoner they had just transferred to the Afghan police force that they demanded to have the man returned to their care, a top soldier says in a sworn affidavit.

The testimony of Col. Steve Noonan, a former senior commander on the Afghan mission, casts doubt on the claims of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and senior ministers that they had no specific reports of abuse of prisoners in
Afghanistan.

Noonan tells of at least one detainee who got a rough ride after being handed over to the Afghan National Police (ANP). And he says it's documented in the military's own reports.

"The CF (Canadian Forces) learned that detainee had been beaten by the local ANP. When they learned of this, they approached the local ANP and requested that the detainee be given to them," Noonan said.

"The ANP complied and the CF subsequently transferred the detainee to the Provincial ANP."

In the midst of controversy regarding abuse of prisoners after they are handed over by Canadian troops to Afghan authorities, the two countries signed a new prisoner-transfer agreement yesterday.

Noonan gave his sworn statement this week as part of the government's response to legal proceedings launched by human rights advocates. But in attempting to show how the Canadian Forces use discretion in the handling of detainees he appears to have given ammunition to critics of the government's policy.

In legal proceedings prior to a scheduled court hearing yesterday, the government stymied efforts by the lawyer for Amnesty International Canada, one of two groups seeking an injunction on prisoner transfers, to get more details when he cross-examined Noonan.

Questions to Noonan on Wednesday about the date of the incident, even the medical condition of the prisoner, were blocked by justice department lawyer Sanderson Graham.

"When did that incident occur?" asked Paul Champ, the Amnesty lawyer.
"We object to that question," Graham replied.
"On what basis?"
"On the basis of national security," Graham said.

"It threatens Canada's national security to know when the Canadian Forces observed local Afghan National Police beating a detainee that they transferred to that unit?" Champ said.

"We object to any questions on this incident generally," Graham replied.
Ottawa law professor Amir Attaran, who has been active on the detainee issue, charged yesterday that the federal government is covering up reports of mistreatment of prisoners.

"Canada is aware of specific allegations and even specific instances of torture that are being kept secret," he said. Defence department officials referred queries about the incident to foreign affairs staff, who were not able to respond.