NDP tables torture-prevention bill
A legislator, actually doing their job and writing independent legislation to fix a national problem? It’s a novel idea but it just may work. One might have thought, or hoped, that this was already covered under existing legislation (eg; The Geneva Convention) but it appears not.
Flashback: Ottawa anticipated Afghan torture allegations: memo | CSIS secretly interrogated Afghan prisoners | Canada wanted Afghan prisoners tortured: lawyer | Harper grilled over prorogation, Afghan detainee torture documents | MP threatens motion on Afghan documents | PM Harper downplays detainee torture scandal, prorogation | Claims troops mistreated prisoners unfounded: military police | Peter MacKay, Red Cross discussed detainees in 2006 | Canada’s troops investigated for Afghan abuse | Colvin disputes witnesses’ detainee testimony | Tories sabotage Afghan committee meeting | Canada ‘defended’ torturer | Ottawa won’t release Afghan torture documents | Top general’s Afghan detainee reversal hikes pressure for public inquiry | Richard Colvin’s Afghan torture memos reveal government concealed prisoner access issues | Torture claims unreliable, officials say, despite having found evidence of torture | MPs vote public inquiry into Afghan detainees, Tories ignore majority motion | Torture claims weren’t probed, official testified | Harper government changes tune on Afghan prisoner issue | Colvin’s testimony true: former Afghan MP | David Mulroney testifies war confused issue of torture | Hillier says he saw no credible reports of torture | Afghan torture emails reached MacKay’s office | Opposition wants documentation prior to government torture rebuttal, PM cries foul | Canadian officials discussed torture in 2006 | Canada shamed on Afghan prisoner torture | Canada ignored torture warnings: Diplomat | Military lawyer stonewalls on Afghan torture claims | Ottawa was warned Afghan detainees might be tortured | Military commission suspends torture hearings, gags witness | Torture probe delayed; Tories deny gagging witness | Federal court limits Afghan detainee torture probe | Watchdog rejects government bid to delay Afghan detainee inquiry | Ottawa moves to block Afghanistan detainee torture hearings again | Bid to Block Afghan Detainee Inquiry Slammed | What Ottawa doesn’t want you to know: Government was told detainees faced ‘extrajudicial executions, disappearances, torture and detention without trial’
CBC News
March 15, 2010
NDP human rights critic Wayne Marston has tabled a private member’s bill in the Commons that he says will prevent any government complicity in torture.
If passed, the Prevention of Torture Act would oblige officials to “report knowledge of torture to the proper authorities” and would establish diplomatic protocols for the “immediate repatriation for any Canadian citizen [abroad] at risk of torture,” Marston said Monday.
He said the proposed new law would not undermine Canada’s ability to investigate or prosecute those citizens in Canada, but would make it a criminal offence to use information acquired by torture.
“It would also call for a creation of a government watch list of those countries known to engage in torture,” said Marston, MP for Hamilton-Stoney Creek.
The House rarely passes private members’ bills, but Marston said he believes the bill will gain support because it recognizes that Canadians don’t condone torture “in any form, at any time.”
Marston said if the law had been in place years ago, people like Maher Arar would not have been subjected to torture and there would be no need for an investigation into allegations that Afghan detainees were abused.
“I’m optimistic, in the sense that this is one more stage in keeping the pressure on the federal government to deal appropriately with issues of torture,” Marston said.
The Liberals and the NDP have been calling for a full public inquiry into the military’s handling of detainees in Afghanistan.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has rejected calls for an inquiry. He has instead appointed Frank Iacobucci , a former Supreme Court of Canada judge, to review documents relating to the detainee issue and determine whether the public interest in releasing them outweighs risks to Canada’s international relations, national defence or national security.
Source | See also under Torture: French bread spiked with LSD in CIA experiment | UK Government attempts to keep torture case secret | Ottawa anticipated Afghan torture allegations: memo | CSIS secretly interrogated Afghan prisoners | Canada wanted Afghan prisoners tortured: lawyer | Harper grilled over prorogation, Afghan detainee torture documents | MP threatens motion on Afghan documents | UK: Government fury as judges attack MI5, security services | CSIS Agents likely contributed to Toronto man’s torture: Inquiry | Poland releases details on CIA ‘black sites’ | Report: France ‘deliberately’ used soldiers as ‘nuclear guinea pigs’ | Bruce Anderson: We not only have a right to use torture. We have a duty | MI5 chief denies cover-up claims over detainees | UK Top judge: Binyam Mohamed case shows MI5 to be devious, dishonest and complicit in torture | Britain reveals details of Binyam Mohamed torture | US Interrogation Squad Doing ‘Scientific Research’ | Military probes beating of Afghan prisoner | US magazine claims Guantánamo inmates were killed during questioning | Regina police probe RCMP torture claims | Tories fail to appoint military complaints chair, torture inquiry may be delayed | PM Harper downplays detainee torture scandal, prorogation | Claims troops mistreated prisoners unfounded: military police | Peter MacKay, Red Cross discussed detainees in 2006 | Canada’s troops investigated for Afghan abuse | Colvin disputes witnesses’ detainee testimony | Tories sabotage Afghan committee meeting | Eyewitness Recounts Forced Organ Removal in China | Canada ‘defended’ torturer | Ottawa won’t release Afghan torture documents | RCMP had no grounds to use Taser on N.W.T. girl: report | Top general’s Afghan detainee reversal hikes pressure for public inquiry | U.S. police taser 10-year-old | Richard Colvin’s Afghan torture memos reveal government concealed prisoner access issues | Torture claims unreliable, officials say, despite having found evidence of torture | MPs vote public inquiry into Afghan detainees, Tories ignore majority motion | Torture claims weren’t probed, official testified | Harper government changes tune on Afghan prisoner issue | Colvin’s testimony true: former Afghan MP | David Mulroney testifies war confused issue of torture | Hillier says he saw no credible reports of torture | Afghan torture emails reached MacKay’s office | UK: Rights watchdog reveals Pakistani spies pressed by British to torture detainees | Opposition wants documentation prior to government torture rebuttal, PM cries foul | Canadian officials discussed torture in 2006 | Canada shamed on Afghan prisoner torture | Canada ignored torture warnings: Diplomat | Guantanamo won’t close by January: Obama | Israelis Want a Pain Ray of Their Own | UK soldier testifies comrades beat Iraqi to death | Military lawyer stonewalls on Afghan torture claims | U.S. court denies Maher Arar’s appeal | UK: Move to withhold evidence in MI5/MI6 torture collusion claim | U.S. artists slam use of music in Guantanamo interrogations | Ottawa was warned Afghan detainees might be tortured | Military commission suspends torture hearings, gags witness | Torture probe delayed; Tories deny gagging witness | Portable heat ray weapon may end up in police hands | Guantanamo January closing deadline may slip | Federal court limits Afghan detainee torture probe | Iraq shoe thrower released from jail, testifies to brutal torture | Sonic weapons used in Iraq positioned at congressional townhall meetings in San Diego county | CIA doctors face human experimentation claims | U.S. probes ‘inhumane’ CIA tactics under Bush | US justice department to investigate CIA over interrogation methods | Obama approves new interrogation unit | UK: New evidence in Binyam Mohamed torture case | UK: Secrets of CIA ‘ghost flights’ to be revealed | UK: CIA ‘put pressure on Britain to cover up its use of torture’ | Microwave weapon will rain pain from the sky | Abdelrazik accuses CSIS, MPs of harassment and interrogation | Pentagon-handpicked 9/11 families want Gitmo kept open | CSIS ignored Khadr’s human rights: Parliamentary report | ‘They were looking for the ideal Manchurian Candidate’ | Revealed — the secret torture evidence MI5 tried to suppress | Guantanamo’s closure window dressing — overseas CIA ‘black sites’ to stay | ‘If I didn’t confess to 7/7 bombings MI5 officers would rape my wife,’ claims torture victim | MPs call for clear policy against torture | New video shows officer shove, then taser 72-year-old great grandmother | US: Ruling allowing Taser use to get DNA may be nation’s first | Gitmo protest captured on film | MI5 faces fresh torture allegations | Skepticism greets launch of Afghan detainee inquiry | Government Experiments on U.S. Soldiers: Shocking Claims Come to Light in New Court Case | Supreme Court of Canada won’t hear Afghan detainee torture case | Reversing himself, Obama seeks to block abuse photos | British soldiers ‘tortured and murdered 20 Iraqis, then covered it up with firefight claim’ | CIA waterboarded 2 al-Qaida suspects 266 times | UK: Government makes ‘unprecedented’ apology for covering up Binyam torture | Psychologists Helped Guide CIA Interrogations | Mumbai attacks suspect alleges torture, retracts confession | Obama publishes torture memos, protects perpetrators | Obama Tilts to CIA on Torture Memos | Document lays bare CIA torture techniques | CSIS chief backpedals on earlier torture statement, claims long-term official ‘misspoke’ | CSIS won’t rule out tips derived from torture | Watchdog rejects government bid to delay Afghan detainee inquiry | Rights groups press for better security oversight | Head of RCMP unit that framed Arar promoted to Assistant Commissioner | Obama administration: Guantanamo detainees have ‘no constitutional rights’ | CIA destroyed 92 interview tapes | Tortured Guantanamo detainee set free | UK agents ‘colluded with torture in Pakistan’ | Obama backs Bush: No rights for Bagram prisoners | U.K. resident held at Gitmo alleges Canadian involvement in torture | Senior judges attack US over ‘torture evidence suppression’ | After Obama praises torture ruling, civil liberties group appalled | Ban stun gun use on young people, Ontario child advocate urges | 24 star Keifer Sutherland opposed to torture, questions role of series in inspiring interrogations | RCMP destroyed evidence, charges dismissed in second torture case for officers | Obama shuts network of CIA ‘ghost prisons’ | Vets Sue CIA Over Mind Control Tests | US police could get ‘pain beam’ weapons | George Bush shoe-thrower ‘too severely beaten’ for court appearance | Conspiracy against Arar reached to highest levels, U.S. court told | Ottawa moves to block Afghanistan detainee torture hearings again | UK Home Secretary orders inquiry into MI5 and CIA torture claims | Tortured trio say report ‘vindicates us’ | Ottawa given evidence of torture, official says | Torture Tactics Endorsed in Secret White House Memos | Tasers being used for pain compliance during interrogation, suit alleges | Lawyers say UK Guantánamo suspect has no hope of fair trial | Defiant military watchdog widens detainee hearings | CSIS faces review in Khadr case | RCMP lays no charges in Maher Arar ‘terrorist’ leaks, declares case closed | Protesters push for Omar Khadr’s release | ‘You don’t care about me,’ Omar Khadr sobs in interview tapes | Remembering Brainwashing | Chinese Torture Techniques Inspired Interrogations at Guantánamo | US Counterinsurgency Manual Leaked, Calls for False Flag Operations, Suspension of Human Rights | Torture was expected in ‘top-down’ decision to deport Arar: lawyer | Bid to Block Afghan Detainee Inquiry Slammed | CSIS suspected U.S. would deport Arar to be tortured: documents | What Ottawa doesn’t want you to know: Government was told detainees faced ‘extrajudicial executions, disappearances, torture and detention without trial’ | Canadian MKULTRA project mind control victim to tell of pills, shocks, brainwashing
May 6th, 2010 at 7:41 am
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May 10th, 2010 at 2:59 am
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June 9th, 2010 at 1:35 am
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June 16th, 2010 at 3:47 pm
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July 8th, 2010 at 12:01 am
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