Alleged recent Canadian detainee abuse, Kandahar
It appears that the US forces are not the only ones accused of beating three detainees in Afghanistan. The alleged incidents occurred in April 2006, at Kandahar base. There have been prior incidents of abuse at Kandahar.
A Canadian Law Professor at University of Ottawa, Amir Attaran, requested documents relating to the incident under Canada's Access to Information Act.
From CBC News:
Attaran said he received three documents from the Department of National Defence, hand-written reports from Canadian military police in Kandahar. The documents show three men were brought to military police by a single interrogator in one day and all had a pattern of injuries to their faces, heads and upper bodies, he told CBC Tuesday.
"It seems to me that if one interrogator has brought in three people in a single day with very similar injuries, this is something that merits investigation," he said.
Attaran sent the information to the Military Police Complaints Commission, a civilian-run body that investigates complaints.
Commission head Peter Tinsley informed Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier and the head of the military police, Capt. Steve Moore, of the allegations, said a report Tuesday in the Globe and Mail.
Attaran said he doesn't know all the details surrounding the incident because DND has refused to provide all the documents he has requested, including a photo of one of the men.
"Only yesterday, because this was about to break in the press, did the DND agree to conduct an internal investigation. An inquiry of this kind should be open to the public," he said.
A group of Canadian soldiers captured the Afghans near a small town about 50 kilometres west of Kandahar, where more than 2,000 Canadians are serving. The men were taken to the medical centre on the Kandahar base.
A military report says the man with the most serious injuries — bruises and cuts to his arm, back and chest — was injured when his hands were tied behind his back.
The military initially said "appropriate force" was used against the man, who it said was a bomb-maker.
One of the detainees was described in military reports as "non-compliant," while a second was described as "extremely belligerent," taking four men to subdue him.
Labels: abuse, afghanistan, canada
posted by JG @ 7:09 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Not only have Canadian Forces been implicated in abuse allegations, Canadian Forces have had a policy since the inception of the war to hand over "detainees" to US forces. In the process, the Canadian military has told Canadian troops that the Geneva Conventions regarding POWs do not apply to these prisoners and that they are not responsible for what happens to the prisoners when they enter American custody.
The two stories are related since it was Amir Attaran who was involved in exposing the neglect of the Geneva Conventions last spring. See:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060530.wxdetainee30/BNStory/Afghanistan/
Canadian Forces have also been involved in numerous attacks on civilians, including checkpoint shootings of families in cars - basically everything you see in Iraq.
Thank you for the comments. I will try to keep track of the issue of handover of detainees. It does seem the Canadians have lost "hearts and minds" in Kandahar with a number of violent incidents involving civilians.
JG
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