The statements from Richard Colvin before a House of Commons special committee on Afghanistan, rocked political circles in Ottawa. "The most common forms of torture were beatings, whipping with power cables and the use of electricity", Colvin testified. "Also common were sleep deprivation, the use of temperature extremes, the use of knives and open flames, and sexual abuse, that is: rape. Torture might be limited to the first days or it might go on for months. According to our information the likelihood is that all the Afghans we handed over were tortured."

Colvin was the former second in command at the Canadian embassy in Kabul. "Canada took far more detainess than the British or Dutch", he explained. "Unlike our NATO allies, we conducted no monitoring. Instead of hours, it took days, weeks, or months to notify the Red Cross which meant nobody else could monitor. We kept hopeless records and apparently to prevent any scrutiny the Canadian Forces leadership concealed all this behind walls of secrecy."

Abuse destroyed good will: Colvin

Colvin said the Canadian government was, at best, indifferent, and, at worst, tried to cover it up. He said the abuse of prisoners has driven a wedge between Canada and the people of Kandahar and destroyed much of the good will that Canadian soldiers have fought and died to achieve.

He said he sent several reports to senior miltary and government officials in Canada which were ignored. He said later he and other diplomats were discouraged from filing paper reports, which were often revised to the point where they could no longer write that the security situation in Afghanistan was deteriorating.

But lawmakers such as foreign affairs minister Lawrence Cannon were quick to dismiss Colving's testimony: "When we've had specific allegations of abuse, we've acted and we will not tolerate proven evidence of abuse. You know nothing has been proven here. And we've changed the system. We've changed the system indeed so we can comply by the rule of law and by human rights."

In the Canadian Parliament opposition members such as the Liberal party's Ujjal Dosanjh called for a public inquiry. "The honour of Canada demands a judicial public inquiry. Will the government have the courage to call one", Dosanjh argued.

Government denies allegations

But government parliamentarians spent the day by carrying out a blistering attack on Colvin's creditibiliy. Defense minister Peter Mackay said: "When the evidence was put to the test, it simply does not stand up. Mr. Colvin had an opportunity to speak to me directly, other ministers of the government who were in Afghanistan. He did not raise the issue."

Canada's former chief of defence staff, General Rick Hillier, told the committee that the conflict in Afghanistan was a difficult period, that many of the detainees were captured during firefights with Canadian soldiers and that they were not innocent victims. And he also discredited Colvin's allegations, saying: "People are making statements like 'all detainees were tortured'. How ludicrous a statement is that from any one single individual who really has no knowledge to be able to say something like that!"

Growing doubts among the people

But the calls for a public inquiry have widened to include human rights organizations. Alex Neve, the secretary general of Amnesty International Canada, said: "The government's insistence that torture concerns are groundless is now beyond preposterous! Ministers seek to attack the credibility of an accomplished diplomat and make absurd suggestions that torture only becomes a concern if it is somehow witnessed first-hand!"

A poll released just days ago shows that most Canadians are not buying their governments assertions that there's no credible evidence that Afghan detainees were tortured.

Author: Dan Karpenchuk (Toronto)
Editor: Thomas Bärthlein