Poor human rights record not enough to turn off information tap: Ottawa says

Of course we stand for human rights, democracy, etc. except when it comes to the war on terror, the war to protect our human rights, democracy etc. I am not at all surprised at this position. Intelligence needs trump human rights. What is even more problematic is that when human rights are violated as in the case of Almalki et al, there is no way they seem able to clear their names. The Iacobucci inquiry is simply investigating behind closed doors the action of officials and intelligence officers. This is from the CBC. Of course Ottawa uses Orwellian newspeak in describing countries that torture: "non-traditional" allies. In Syria's case it is not even our ally. Actually some of our traditional allies such as the US use torture as well.
As Amnesty points out Canada is bound by the UN Convention on Torture etc. However, the actions of US, Syria, Saudi Arabia, China, and on and on show that these prohibitions are not enforceable for the most part.



Poor human rights record not enough to turn off information tap, Ottawa says
Published: Thursday, January 3, 2008 | 7:17 PM ET
Canadian Press: Jim Bronskill And Sue Bailey, THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA - Human rights abuses are not necessarily enough to keep Canada from sharing information with security agencies overseas, Ottawa tells a federal inquiry on torture in a newly released submission.

Canada must maintain relationships with "non-traditional" allies, some of whom do not always treat people appropriately, in order to fight terrorism, says a government brief made public Thursday.

"The fact that a particular country may have a poor human rights record is not sufficient, without other compelling circumstances, to preclude the sharing of information."

Moreover, the government makes the blunt admission that, despite its best efforts, Canada's Foreign Affairs Department "cannot always ensure the protection of its citizens who are dual nationals."

It says some countries, particularly in the Middle East, will not recognize the formal rights of the other country of nationality, such as Canada. In such cases, even if Foreign Affairs can confirm that a Canadian who holds another citizenship is detained, "access to that individual may simply be denied."

Ottawa filed the submission in advance of hearings next week at a commission of inquiry into the cases of three men who claim Canadian officials set the stage for their torture overseas.



Until now, most of the commission's work has been done behind closed doors.

In 2006 the Conservative government appointed former Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci to investigate the cases of Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El Maati and Muayyed Nureddin.

The trio maintain they were tortured in Syria - and in the case of El Maati in Egypt as well - as a result of flawed information from the RCMP and CSIS.

In a joint response to the federal brief, Almalki, El Maati and Nureddin call the government submissions "deeply troubling" in that they "appear to imply that Canada must for law enforcement reasons, albeit reluctantly, turn a blind eye to the human rights abuses inflicted on its citizens detained abroad" - if not actually take part in them.

Advocates for the three men want to know whether Ottawa orchestrated their overseas interrogations in co-operation with foreign allies.

El Maati, a Toronto truck driver, was arrested in Syria on a visit in 2001, then sent to Egypt in early 2002. He was imprisoned there for almost two years.

Almalki, an Ottawa electronics engineer, was detained in Syria in 2002 and held for 22 months.

Nureddin, a Toronto geologist, was held for 34 days in Syria in late 2003 and early 2004.

All three men are back in Canada and have not been charged with any crime.

Iacobucci has requested input from the men, the government and interested parties on standards he should apply in considering the sharing of information by Canada with other countries, questioning of Canadians held abroad, and the role of consular officials in dealing with both imprisoned Canadians and security or police agencies.

The federal brief stresses that both CSIS and the RCMP require the assistance of foreign agencies to fulfil their security mandates since Canada is "a net importer of information."

In their joint response, the three say the federal submissions reinforce a false perception they are terrorists who have just not been "caught" yet. "The underlying premise is that sufficient accurate and verified information existed about these men to justify sharing it with other states, including those known to abuse human rights."

They also reject federal arguments suggesting Canada is a kind of poor cousin of the intelligence world. "That Canada may be a net importer of information cannot excuse sharing information with states that abuse human rights."

The three note that upon being detained abroad they were travelling openly under their own names on Canadian passports.

The prohibition on torture is absolute, Amnesty International says in a submission to the inquiry.

Canada is duty-bound under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, along with the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

"Under no circumstances can Canada engage in activities that would render it complicit or otherwise participate, instigate, consent to or acquiesce in the use of torture," says Amnesty. "The prohibition is intransgressible" under any circumstance, "including in times of war or in the face of terrorist threats."

Amnesty is among several inquiry participants, including the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group and the Canadian Arab Federation, urging tight restrictions on information sharing with foreign states that use torture or flout the rule of law.

That includes the United States, says Amnesty's submission. Canada's interactions with its southern neighbour "should be premised on the recognition that the U.S., through its use of rendition, secret detention and detention centres such as Guantanamo Bay, has been widely criticized for serious human rights violations associated with the 'war on terror."'

Canada can't lawfully provide detaining states with information or travel plans that "might serve as the basis for an arrest leading to unlawful imprisonment, torture and other serious human rights abuses," says Amnesty.

In the cases of Almalki, El Maati and Nureddin, Canada should have known that all three men were at serious risk of brutal treatment, says the submission.

"Widely and publicly available country reports indicated that torture was used regularly in national security cases in both Egypt and Syria."

Yet, Canadian officials "sent questions to Syria, to be used in the case of Mr. Almalki, and sought to exchange information with the Syrian officials even after Mr. El Maati had informed (consular staff) in Cairo that he had been tortured during his detention in Syria."

Canada is not only obliged to shun use of torture but to proactively prevent it while protecting the rights of all Canadian citizens equally, says Amnesty. That duty is heightened, it adds, in cases involving national-security detainees in countries where they face risk of mistreatment.

Amnesty urges consular staff to presume all detained Canadians innocent until proven guilty. At least two consular staff should visit such prisoners to watch for the most subtle signs of abuse, and to demand any brutality cease, it says.

Amnesty pointedly notes that Ottawa engineer Maher Arar was unjustly labelled a terrorist.

"This labelling had very serious consequences, including very likely influencing the treatment he received from Canadian consular officials who may have regarded him as a potential threat to Canada. There is a very real possibility that those same concerns arise with respect to these three men."

Ottawa awarded Arar $10.5 million in compensation after an inquiry concluded faulty information passed by the RCMP to American officials likely led to his deportation to Syria.

© The Canadian Press, 2008