Monday, 28 December 2009

Could Canadian officials be charged with war crimes?

Check out the article over on the Embassy Newspaper/Hill Times website entitled: Could Canadians be charged with war crimes? It's from the December 16, 2009 print edition of Canada's influential foreign policy newspaper.

The article, written by Jeff Davis, raises some very serious questions about the role of Canadian officials in potential violations of the Geneva Convention related to Afghan detainee torture. The article is excerpted below:

"With the government refusing to start a public inquiry and the International Criminal Court having launched a "preliminary" investigation into the Afghan detainee issue, law experts say there is a very real chance Canadian officials could be charged with war crimes.

Until last week, the government and senior officials had been saying they had no credible reports that people detained by the Canadian Forces and transferred to Afghan authorities were being tortured.

While Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk revealed on Dec. 9 that such torture had, in fact, occurred in the past, government ministers say they were not aware of the reports. Further, they have not acknowledged they heard the widespread reports that Afghan authorities were abusing detainees."
Continue reading full article .....

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