Red Cross warned Canada of Afghan prison abuse

[Spazito]

OTTAWA — The International Red Cross met twice with senior Canadian officials in Kandahar to deliver veiled but insistent warnings about torture in Afghan jails a year before Canada acted to protect detainees.

Details of the face-to-face meetings in 2006, outlined in uncensored memos examined by The Canadian Press, undermine the federal government's claims that diplomat Richard Colvin was a lone voice raising vague concerns about torture.

The Red Cross is prevented by international rules from using the term "torture" and from commenting on one country's behaviour to another.

snip

The wording is clear diplomatic code for torture, says a University of Ottawa law professor, and was as explicit as the Red Cross could be given diplomatic constraints.

more

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20091202/red_cross_091202/20091202?hub=TopStoriesV2

This isn't going away much as CRAP would like it to.

[CHIMO]

1. Parts of detainee report erased at ambassador's request

Canada's former ambassador to Afghanistan asked a diplomat to erase two bluntly worded sections from an April, 2007, report on how Ottawa's delays in notifying the Red Cross of prisoner transfers to Afghan authorities left these detainees vulnerable to abuse.

The Globe and Mail has learned that Arif Lalani asked for the edits from Richard Colvin, a diplomat at the centre of an unfolding controversy over whether Canada turned a blind eye when handing prisoners to Afghanistan's torture-prone authorities.

This editing took place in April, 2007, only days after a Globe investigation revealed disturbing allegations of abuse and torture among prisoners transferred by Canadians to Afghan detention - stories that kicked off a stormy debate in Ottawa.

In one of the sections he was requested to delete, Mr. Colvin remarked on a pattern observed by the Red Cross: that abuse took place almost immediately after prisoners were transferred to the Afghans - timing that meant Canada's tardiness made it very hard for the human-rights monitor to guard against torture.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/parts-of-detainee-report-erased-at-ambassadors-request/article1385117/

[Spazito]

2. Wow, the debunking of the lies told by McKay et al is happening fast and furious,

relatively speaking. I am very appreciative that Mr. Colvin is being proven to be the truth teller time and time again. Thanks for the link, it was very informative.

[RedSock]

3. now if ignatieff could emerge from his coma ...

... is he still on his summer vacation?