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| Great White North |
| Prisoner abuse allegations dismissed |
| 2007-04-25 |
| The Conservative government cast tales of prisoner abuse in Afghanistan as the unsubstantiated ramblings of a few cold-blooded Taliban killers. Detainees have reportedly been kicked in the head, whipped with cables, slammed with rifle butts, or electrocuted by Afghan authorities after being turned over by their Canadian captors. Several of the prisoners have been cleared and released, and some have spent months awaiting formal charges, according to a report in the Globe and Mail. But Prime Minister Stephen Harper accused his opponents of siding with terrorists when they raised the alleged beatings in the House of Commons. "These are merely allegations being made by the Taliban," the prime minister said in French. "I don't accept allegations without evidence from the Taliban." The Liberals said the government's own words place it in violation of the Geneva Conventions, which require a presumption of innocence for charged captives. A handful of detainees told the Globe and Mail that they were treated humanely by Canadian soldiers upon their capture. But it was a different story once they were transferred to Afghan authorities. One was quoted saying that a particularly fearsome interrogator nicknamed 'Bobo,' Afghan slang for a B-52 bomber, kicked him in the head and warned him as he bled not to dirty the carpet. Public Security Minister Stockwell Day cast the Canadian prisoners as "so-called detainees" who are cold-blooded killers. He said humane treatment of prisoners is a radical thought to some people in Afghanistan, and that Canadians have a message for local authorities when transferring over prisoners. "We're saying to them that these people that we're bringing you to put in jail -- these people have no compunction about machine-gunning, mowing down little children," Day told an international counter-terrorism conference in Quebec City. "They have no compunction about decapitating or hanging elderly women. . . . Now we've captured them and, yes, these people that we've captured want nothing more to do than to kill you and your children." |
| Posted by:Steve |