Canada was complicit in the torture of innocent Afghan detainees and senior military: government tried to cover up reports, by Kathleen Harris, Sun N

OTTAWA — Canada was complicit in the torture of innocent Afghan detainees and senior military and government officials tried to cover up reports of alleged abuse, a top diplomat told a parliamentary committee today.

In explosive testimony, Richard Colvin said Afghans who were picked up by Canadian troops and handed over to local authorities were beaten with cables and subjected to electric shocks — and most of them were farmers, tailors and peasants, not bomb-makers or Taliban fighters.

"We kept hopeless records and apparently to prevent any scrutiny, the Canadian Forces leadership concealed all this behind walls of secrecy," he said. "As I learned more about our detainee practices, I came to a conclusion they were contrary to Canada's values, contrary to Canada's interests, contrary to Canada's official policies and also contrary to international law. That is, they were un-Canadian, counter-productive and probably illegal."

Alleged abuse took place in 2006 and 2007 yet reports back to Ottawa were ignored, Colvin told MPs. Reports were censored and senior Foreign Affairs officials requested oral reports instead of written records, he said. The Red Cross had also tried for months to alert military officials about what was going on, but couldn't get an answer to their calls.

Widespread indifference to reports of abuse later grew into a "political crisis" in 2007.

Colvin said all Canadians should be concerned by the military's handling of prisoners.

"Canada has always been a powerful advocate of international law and human rights," he said. "That is a keystone of who we are as Canadians and what we have always stood for as a people and nation. If we disregard our core principles and values, we also lose our moral authority abroad. If we are complicit in the of torture of Afghans in Kandahar, how can we credibly promote human rights in Tehran or Beijing?"

Reacting earlier in the day to questions from Liberal MP Bob Rae about the government’s 18-month delay in acting on the allegations of abuse, Defence Minister Peter MacKay insisted officials took steps.

“We received concerns about conditions in Afghan prisons. As a result, we instituted a more robust system of visitation, we instituted investments to improve those conditions, we instituted a more rigorous process of assisting Afghans with respect to human rights,” he said. “We inherited an inadequate transfer arrangement that was left in place by the previous government. We improved upon that two and a half years ago and we continue to work both with local officials and members in all departments to improve things.”

kathleen.harris@sunmedia.ca