Allegations by Richard Colvin of Afghan Detainee Torture Confirm Fears of Prof. Attaran
The testimony of senior diplomat Richard Colvin before a parliamentary committee on the Canadian Mission in Afghanistan has confirmed concerns that Professor Amir Attaran has been expressing for three years.Mr. Colvin created a stir in Ottawa on November 18, 2009 when he testified that the government ignored his warnings about the transfer of Afghan prisoners from Canadian soldiers to Afghan authorities. According to information he obtained, Mr. Colvin testified, these prisoners faced possible torture at the hands of their Afghan captors. If true, this revelation suggests Canada is guilty of violating the Geneva Conventions, and is therefore complicit in a war crime.
Professor Attaran expressed these same concerns at a conference in March of 2006. “Soldiers risk involuntarily becoming accessory to torture, a war crime,” he warned. In the months that followed the conclusion of the detainee transfer agreement, he requested a copy of the agreement from the Department of National Defence only to be refused.
The allegations made by Richard Colvin have confirmed some of the leads Prof. Attaran has been researching. “This is a remarkable case where scholarly research pioneered at the University is having a real world impact. A new detainee agreement was signed, detainee transfers were stopped several times, and several investigations were launched, including one in Parliament.”
Professor Attaran believes that the RCMP should now launch an investigation into those persons who had knowledge of the detainee transfers, but refused to act. It goes without saying, he suggests, that this issue will have a significant impact internationally: “The ramifications of this research are going to affect Canada deeply, and also some of our NATO allies, who also transfer detainees in Afghanistan.”