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| Afghanistan |
| Canada Official Ended Detainee Transfers |
| 2008-01-24 |
| OTTAWA (AP) - Canada's acting military commander in Afghanistan stopped Canadian soldiers from transferring prisoners in Afghanistan to local authorities the day after a November prison visit yielded evidence of torture, a general testified Thursday. Brig.-Gen. Andre Deschamps said the decision was made by Col. Christian Juneau a day after a Nov. 5 visit to the prison, and no prisoners have been transferred since. The disclosure that Canada stopped handing prisoners over in November comes a year after Canada's Conservative government ridiculed its opponents for raising torture allegations and Prime Minister Stephen Harper accused them of being pro-Taliban. Juneau was acting commander of Canada's military effort in Afghanistan when Canadian officials heard stories of abuse from prisoners being held in a Kandahar prison. One prisoner told Canadian officials he had been beaten unconscious, whipped with electrical cables, and belted with a rubber hose at the National Directorate of Security detention facility in Kandahar city in Afghanistan, according to a newly released government letter. The NDS is the domestic intelligence agency of the government of Afghanistan. The prisoner told the Canadians exactly where they could find the torture instruments and led them to his prison cell where they discovered the hose and cable under a chair. He showed the Canadians a four-inch bruise on his back. He said he could not recall who interrogated him because he was knocked unconscious. The letter was submitted this week by government lawyers to Amnesty International and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association as part of their suit to block further transfers. A spokeswoman for the prime minister had little to say about the policy shift, except to note that it stemmed from an agreement between the Canadian and Afghan governments to monitor detainees. ``The government will not provide any comment on operational matters,'' said spokeswoman Sandra Buckler said. |
| Posted by:Steve White |