Canadian Afghan detainee abuse scandal

The Canadian Afghan detainee abuse scandal is a series of claims regarding detainees captured in Afghanistan by the Canadian Forces and given into the custody of the Afghan National Army (ANA) or the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS).

These claims include the claim that the Canadian government has not negotiated sufficient oversight to prevent the abuse of the prisoners after being given into ANA or NDS custody, and the claim that such abuses have actually taken place.

Outline

The story first gained national attention in February 2007 with the revelation that despite the prior assurances of defence minister Gordon O'Connor, the International Committee of the Red Cross did not monitor Afghan detainees transferred from Canadian to Afghan custody.

In the week of April 23 to April 27 2007, "The Globe and Mail" released a series of stories detailing allegations of torture and a censored Canadian government report on treatment of detainees. These revelations led to intense discussions in the House of Commons and calls for Gordon O'Connor's resignation.

The magnitude of the issue within the Canadian political scene grew following apparently contradictory statements by government ministers about the allegations, to the point that it began to be described in the press as a "scandal". []

*On March 13, O'Connor travelled to Kandahar to meet with Abdul Noorzai of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, "look the man in the eyes", and gain assurances that detainees were being supervised. [cite news|url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070313.woconnor0313/BNStory/Afghanistan/|first=Joe|last=Friesen|title=O'Connor fails to meet Afghan watchdog|publisher=The Globe and Mail|date=13 March 2007|accessdate = 2007-04-27]

*On March 19, O'Connor apologised for previously misleading the House on the Red Cross issue. [cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/03/19/afghanaplogy.html|title=O'Connor sorry for misinforming House on Afghan detainees|publisher=CBC News|date=19 March 2007|accessdate = 2007-04-27]

*On March 21, in response to continued criticism of O'Connor's earlier actions, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper intervened in the issue, stating in the House that "I can understand the passion that the leader of the Opposition and members of his party feel for the Taliban prisoners... I just wish occasionally they would show the same passion for Canadian soldiers." [cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/03/21/harper-attack.html|title=Liberals furious at Harper's Taliban accusation|publisher=CBC News|date=21 March 2007|accessdate = 2007-04-27]

*On April 23 2007, "The Globe and Mail" published interviews with 30 men who claimed they were "beaten, starved, frozen and choked after they were handed over to Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security". [cite news|url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070423.DETAINEE23/TPStory/?query=From+Canadian+custody+into+cruel+hands|title=From Canadian custody into cruel hands|first=Graeme|last=Smith|publisher=The Globe and Mail|date=23 April 2007|accessdate = 2007-04-27] This prompted intense questioning by all opposition parties, including demands for a new agreement with Afghan authorities and unanimous demands for O'Connor's resignation. [cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/04/23/afghan-torture.html|title=Latest Afghan abuse claims spark cries for O'Connor to resign|publisher=CBC News|date=23 April 2007|accessdate = 2007-04-27] [cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/cp/national/070423/n042329A.html|title=Pressure mounts on Conservatives to change Afghan prisoner agreement|publisher=CBC News|date=23 April 2007|accessdate = 2007-04-27] [cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6581322,00.html|title=Canada to Probe Afghan Abuse Allegations|publisher=The Guardian|date=24 April 2007|accessdate = 2007-04-27]

*On April 24, a Liberal motion to recall Canadian troops by 2009 failed, as the NDP wished for immediate withdrawal and the Conservatives argued against any timetable for a withdrawal. [cite news|url=http://www.thestar.com/article/206648|title=MPs vote down Afghan exit date motion|first=Joan|last=Bryden|publisher=Toronto Star|date=24 April 2007|accessdate = 2007-04-27] The same day, in speaking of the detainees, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said that "these people have no compunction about machine-gunning, mowing down little children; they have no compunction about decapitating or hanging elderly women; they have no compunction about the most vicious types of torture you can imagine." [cite news|url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070425.wdetaineesreax25/BNStory/Front|title=Harper stands by O'Connor as furor grows|publisher=The Globe and Mail|first=Daniel|last=Leblanc|date=25 April 2007|accessdate = 2007-04-27]

*On April 25, "The Globe and Mail" revealed that it had received an expurgated report by the government on human rights in Afghanistan through a freedom-of-information request, and also had obtained an intact copy through other means. In the official version "negative references to acts such as torture, abuse, and extra judicial killings were blacked out without an explanation." [cite news|url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070425.DETAINEE25/TPStory/National|title=What Ottawa doesn't want you to know|publisher=The Globe and Mail|first=Paul|last=Koring|date=25 April 2007|accessdate = 2007-04-27] After intensive questioning in the House on this revelation, O'Connor claimed that a new agreement had been reached, saying "we have, in the last few days, entered into a local agreement in the Kandahar province to enter the detention facilities any time we want." [cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/04/25/afghan-abuse.html|title=Canada will monitor Afghan detainees for signs of torture|publisher=CBC News|date=25 April 2007|accessdate = 2007-04-27]

*On April 26, Michael Byers and William Schabas announced they had issued a request to the International Criminal Court to investigate "possible war crimes" by Gordon O'Connor and General Rick Hillier, Chief of the Defence Staff, over the detainee-transfer issue. [cite news|url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070426.DETAINEESUIT26/TPStory/TPInternational/Asia/|title=ICC urged to probe transfer|publisher=The Globe and Mail|first=Alan|last=Freeman|date=26 April 2007|accessdate = 2007-04-27]

*"The Globe and Mail" quoted an anonymous Conservative source about why Harper was not planning to dismiss O'Connor despite his mistakes with the file: "If it's interpreted as us wavering, or any weakening of resolve that somehow we're on the wrong course, those questions would get asked... The Taliban would see it as a positive thing." [cite news|url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070426.DETAINEEANALYSIS26/TPStory/|title=PM stands by O'Connor -- but for the wrong reasons|publisher=The Globe and Mail|first=Brian|last=Laghi|date=26 April 2007|accessdate = 2007-04-27]

*In Parliament, Stephen Harper stated that there was "no evidence that access is blocked to the prisons" and said that Afghan authorities had agreed to "formalize that agreement so there is no potential misunderstanding", suggesting the agreement had yet to be settled. Shortly afterwards, Stockwell Day asserted that Canadian correctional officers in Kandahar already had unrestricted access to detainees, and this had always been the case. [cite news|url=http://www.thestar.com/News/article/207670|title=PM, ministers at odds on Afghan detainees|first=Murray|last=Brewster|publisher=Toronto Star|date=26 April 2007|accessdate = 2007-04-27] [cite news|url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070426.wabuse0426/BNStory/National/home|title=PM says Afghan concerns are ‘baseless'|publisher=The Globe and Mail|first=Tenille|last=Bonoguore|date=26 April 2007|accessdate = 2007-04-27] An anonymous Conservative source blamed the apparent difference in messages between Harper and his ministers to Harper's managerial style of "take everything on on your own." [cite news|url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070426.wdetaineesharper0427/BNStory/National/home|title=Harper's role as point man questioned as detainee issue won't go away|publisher=The Globe and Mail|first=Brian|last=Laghi|date=26 April 2007|accessdate = 2007-04-27]

*On April 30, North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer announced tha the Afghan government was to launch an inquiry about the fate of detainees. In Parliament, House Leader Peter Van Loan questioned the existence of torture, saying "we have yet to see one specific allegation of torture ... If [opposition members] have a specific name, we'd be happy to have it investigated and chased down, but they continue to repeat the baseless accusations made by those who wish to undermine our forces there." [cite news|url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070430.wdetainee30/BNStory/Afghanistan/home/|title=Tories at odds with NATO on torture|publisher=The Globe and Mail|date=30 April 2007|accessdate = 2007-04-30] Stockwell Day claimed that Corrections Canada officials in Afghanistan had heard abuse claims from detainees. [cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/04/30/afghan-detainees.html|title=Canadian officials heard torture allegations: Day|publisher=CBC News|date=30 April 2007|accessdate = 2007-04-30]

*On May 2, General Hillier took responsibility for signing the detainee-transfer agreement in December 2005, saying "Truly at the time we thought that was the right thing to do, that it was the right approach. Obviously we'll reassess that as allegations come out that perhaps that was not sufficient." [cite news|url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070502.whillier0502/BNStory/Afghanistan/home|title=Detainee plan 'right thing' to do: Hillier|publisher=The Globe and Mail|first=Tenille|last=Bonoguore|date=2 May 2007|accessdate = 2007-05-02] He also indicated that Canadians soldiers in Afghanistan were upset at the prominence the abuse allegations had received in Canadian media. [cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/05/02/hillier-abuse.html|title=Soldiers upset over Afghan abuse allegations: Hillier|publisher=CBC News|date=2 May 2007|accessdate = 2007-05-02] The Federal Court announced a hearing into an injunction filed by Amnesty International against future detainee transfers. [cite news|url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070503.wafghandetainees03/BNStory/Front|title=Court to hear transfer-injunction arguments|publisher=Globe and Mail|first=Paul|last=Koring|date=3 May 2007|accessdate = 2007-05-03]

*On May 3, Hiller announced that a new detainee transfer agreement had been signed which allows for follow-up monitoring of prisoners. [cite news|url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070503.wkoring0503/BNStory/National/home|title=Canada signs new detainee agreement|publisher=The Globe and Mail|first=Paul|last=Koring|date=3 May 2007|accessdate = 2007-05-03] Following this, the Federal Court hearing was suspended. [cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/05/03/detainees-court.html|title=Canada has new Afghan detainee deal, court told|publisher=CBC News|date=3 May 2007|accessdate = 2007-05-03]

*On June 1 2007, following testimony from officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Office of Information Commissioner, New Democratic Party Ethics Critic Pat Martin sent a letter to the acting commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) asking for a criminal probe into DFAIT's cover-up of reports regarding extra-judicial killing and torture in Afghan prisons.

*On June 25, 2007, it was revealed that the military probe investigating handling of detainees would not investigate any aspect of the detainee's treatment after their handover to Afghan authorities. [cite news|url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070625.wdetainees25/BNStory/Afghanistan/home|title=Detainees' claims won't be fully checked|publisher=Globe and Mail|last=Koring|first=Paul|date=25 June 2007|accessdate = 2007-06-25]

* On August 14, 2007, during a cabinet shuffle, Gordon O'Connor was transferred from National Defence to National Revenue, with Peter MacKay taking over as defence minister. Many media reports, including the CBC, the Globe and Mail, and National Post regarded O'Connor's new portfolio as a demotion as a consequence of his handling of the prisoner abuse allegations. [cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/08/14/cabinet-shuffle.html|title=MacKay named new defence minister in cabinet shuffle|publisher=CBC News|date=2007-08-14|accessdate=2007-09-01]

* On August 31, 2007, it was revealed that General Hillier and the government had hired British legal scholar Christopher Greenwood to submit a legal opinion to the Federal Court of Canada arguing "Canada's military has no obligation to accord Afghan detainees Canadian-style legal rights." [cite news|url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070831.wabuse01/BNStory/National/|title=Academic hired to argue detainees' rights case|last=Cheadle|publisher=The Globe and Mail|first=Bruce|date=2007-09-01|accessdate=2007-09-01]

* In January 2008, it was revealed that the Harper government, months earlier, quietly ceased the detainee transfers after an internal investigation revealed the torture allegations to be credible. [cite news|url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080123.wkoring0123/BNStory/Afghanistan/home|title=Canada halts transfers of Afghan prisoners|last=Koring|first=Paul|date=2008-01-23|accessdate=2008-01-23|publisher=The Globe and Mail]

References

External links

* [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/bnfiles/Afghanistan/canadian.pdf Text of the Canadian agreement with the Afghan government]