The Guardian 2 November, 2005
Canada turns blind eye to torture,
report charges
Tim Pelzer
Canada is deporting persons to countries where they risk being cruelly treated and tortured,
Amnesty International (AI) said in a report released October 13.
Titled Protection Gap: Strengthening Canada's compliance with international human rights
obligations, the report says AI has repeatedly reminded the Canadian Government that
deporting refugees to countries that employ torture violates the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, which Canada signed and is obligated to follow.
Noting that the government has said it has the right to deport persons to such countries in the
interests of "security", the report counters, "The appropriate response is to pursue justice through
lawful investigations, charges and trial, not to breach international law and create further injustice
by exposing individuals to a serious risk of torture."
It points out that the UN Committee against Torture has told the Canadian Government that
international legal protection against torture applies in all cases and that the nation's laws must
reflect this.
The report also expresses concern that Canadian security agencies were involved in the arrest of
four Canadian men of Syrian origin who were sent back to Syria, where they were
tortured.
The most well-known case is that of Syrian-born Maher Arar. US officials arrested Arar in 2002 in
New York's Kennedy Airport on his way to Canada and then flew him to Syria where he was held
for a year without charges. Arar reported that Syrian prison guards tortured him and forced him to
live in inhumane conditions. The three other men also say that they were tortured. Syria eventually
released Arar and the three other men and allowed them to return to Canada.
"It also appears that information provided by Canadian sources likely served as the basis for the
interrogation sessions in Syria during which these individuals were subjected to torture. There are
concerns that information coming out of these interrogations was then transferred back to Canada
and may have been used by Canadian officials in the course of ongoing investigations of these four
men and other[s]." AI makes it clear that international law forbids the use of information obtained
under torture.
Among other things, the report also accuses the Canadian Government of practising arbitrary
detention because it arrests, detains and deports non-citizens, who don't have the right to a fair
trial. Detainees do not have to be fully informed of the charges against them and have no
opportunity to legally challenge their detention.