Originally published on the CGS blog on January 18, 2008.
It has recently come to light that the Canadian government has put the U.S. on a watch list for torture, according to an alleged report relating to Afghan detainees. This bold move – which drives home the level of concern amongst American allies about its interrogation policies as exercised at prisons such as Guantanamo Bay and CIA “black sites” around the world – apparently followed the investigation into the torture a Maher Arar . Arar, a Canadian software engineer was wrongly accused of having connections to terrorism and rendered to Syria where he was allegedly tortured for almost a year.
Despite this, however, there is a curious lack of voracity on the part of the Canadian government to intervene in the detention of the last remaining Canadian citizen in Guantanamo – Omar Khadr , who was only 15-years-old when he was captured in Afghanistan. Despite accusations of torture – accusations that the government of Canada is all too familiar with following the Arar case as reflected by the public apology and damages he received – it appears Canada is prepared to allow Khadr to go through the flawed U.S. Military Commissions process. Observers speculated that Ottawa may have tried to redact certain parts of the report that may anger allies, although this seemingly did not happen.
Nevertheless, it will stand to be seen to what extent such a move from a key U.S. ally will put additional pressure on the U.S. government to desist from certain cruel and inhumane interrogation practices.
