[R-G] Ottawa kept torture charges against ally secret

[Richard Menec]

("Abuse" sounds so sanitized.  Call it what it is -- torture!)

http://tinyurl.com/2cm2gl (Globe & Mail)

Ottawa kept abuse charges against ally secret

Kandahar governor accused of beating and using electric shocks on detainees
in secret Afghan prisons

PAUL KORING

From Friday's Globe and Mail

February 1, 2008 at 2:00 AM EST

The Harper government knew, but tried to keep secret since last spring,
allegations that the governor of Kandahar was personally involved in torture
and abuse of detainees.

The allegations against Governor Asadullah Khalid, appointed directly by
President Hamid Karzai and a key political partner to Canada's
nation-building efforts in southern Afghanistan, were regarded as
sufficiently credible that senior officials in Ottawa were immediately
informed and Canadian diplomats secretly reported them to the International
Red Cross and Afghanistan's main human-rights group.

Government documents detailing the accusations were heavily censored by the
government which, claiming national security, blacked out the references to
"the governor." But multiple sources, both inside and outside the
government, confirm that the words "the governor" have been censored as have
whole passages referring to secret cells allegedly run by Mr. Khalid outside
the official prison system.

Rumours have long linked Mr. Khalid to secret prisons. That he had close
ties with U.S. intelligence agents and special forces had been known since
Canadian troops arrived in southern Afghanistan in early 2006. But Ottawa
didn't confront an accusation of the governor's direct involvement in the
interrogation and torture of prisoners until it sent diplomats to inspect
the main secret police prison in Kandahar on April 25, 2007.

 "Another prisoner beckoned to us," begins the crucial passages describing
the first inspection of the secret National Directorate of Security police
prison in Kandahar city.

The detainee, like others in the secret police jail, was in leg irons,
according to the documents. He told the Canadians his name and described how
he initially had been imprisoned for nearly a year, most of the time
shackled alone in a room in one of the governor's private prisons. "He went
on to state he had been interrogated by foreigners and the governor," said
the report by Gavin Buchan, a Canadian diplomat and Linda Garwood-Filbert,
the head of the Canadian Corrections team in Afghanistan.

"He alleged that the governor beat him and gave him electric shocks," Ms.
Garwood-Filbert wrote in her inspection report. Eventually the prisoner was
moved to the NDS prison where he gave his account to Canadian officials.

Within days, senior Canadian diplomats had passed on the reports to both the
International Committee of the Red Cross and the Afghanistan Independent
Human Rights Commission.

Another document, marked "For AIHRC and ICRC eyes only" was used as a
briefing note by Canadian diplomats at two meetings in early May.

One meeting was with the International Committee of the Red Cross; the other
with the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. When the briefing
note was finally made public late last year as part of the government's
delivery of documents in the Federal Court case brought by Amnesty
International Canada and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, it also had
the words "the governor" blacked out, multiple sources have confirmed.

Despite sharing the allegations with the Afghan government and outside
agencies, Ottawa kept them from a Canadian Federal Court judge hearing a
case brought by Canadian rights groups. It claimed the national security
exemption.

Canada began follow-up inspections of detainees it transferred to Afghan
custody after The Globe and Mail published a series of stories detailing
accounts of torture and how internal documents showed that the government
was aware abuse was rife in Afghan prisons.

Another diplomatic cable, dated April 26, the day after that first
inspection uncovered the direct allegation, says "Governor Asadullah Khalid,
in separate discussions, has noted his surprise and unhappiness at The Globe
and Mail."

It remains unclear whether the allegation of torture against Mr. Khalid has
ever been investigated, as is required under the new detainee-transfer
agreement.

If there was an investigation, it may be one of the nine, bundled together,
that were reported as "groundless" by the secret police in a conversation
with Canadian diplomats last month. No details of any investigation were
disclosed and the quality of the probes remains in doubt because Canada
withholds the name of the accuser in passing along the allegations.

Canadian ministers continue to meet Mr. Khalid, but the Prime Minister broke
with usual practice when he went to Kandahar less than a month after a
prisoner told the Canadian diplomats that Mr. Khalid had tortured him.

In response to written questions, the government declined to directly
confirm that it knew of the allegations against Mr. Khalid. However, when
asked if Mr. Harper had raised "the governor's alleged personal involvement
in the interrogation of detainee" in his talks with Mr. Karzai, the
carefully worded response was: "The Prime Minister, the Ministers of Foreign
Affairs and National Defence, as well as Canada's Ambassador to Afghanistan
have had a number of frank discussions with President Karzai on a range of
issues, including the treatment of detainees." The government response also
pointedly distanced Mr. Harper from Mr. Khalid in the period after April of
2007.

"As stated previously, the Prime Minister has met only briefly with Mr.
Khalid in March, 2006, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs has never met Mr.
Khalid. The Minister of National Defence raised Canada's concern about the
treatment of detainees with Mr. Khalid in November, 2007," it said.

It also sought to play down the first meeting. "During his first trip to
Afghanistan in March, 2006, the Prime Minister was met at the Kandahar
airfield briefly by Governor Asadullah Khalid and senior tribal elders. The
Governor is the senior ranking government official in Kandahar and, as such,
he would greet the Prime Minister upon his arrival in Kandahar." But that
courtesy was omitted in Mr. Harper's May, 2007, visit, after the allegation
of torture by the governor was reported to the ICRC by Canada.

Nevertheless, Mr. Khalid remains a key player in Kandahar and senior
Canadian commanders and diplomats deal with him weekly. He is a regular
visitor to the main Canadian base on Kandahar air field and
Brigadier-General Guy Laroche and ambassador Arif Lalani routinely visit the
governor's compound.

In Afghanistan's centralized government, governors are directly appointed.
Mr. Karzai sent Mr. Khalid to Kandahar, the heartland of the Taliban, as
governor in 2005.

Previously, Mr. Khalid had been governor of Ghazni. Mr. Khalid says he
fought the Taliban alongside the famous Northern Alliance warlord Ahmad Shah
Massoud, killed by al-Qaeda suicide bombers two days before Sept. 11, 2001.
Mr. Khalid's age is not clear, although he appears to be in his late 30s or
early 40s. According to some reports, he attended Kabul University but
dropped out to fight the Taliban.

Who knew?

When The Globe and Mail learned from multiple sources that the governor of
Kandahar was alleged to have personally abused detainees, and the Canadian
government knew about it, the following written questions were posed to
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier, Defence
Minister Peter MacKay and former defence minister Gordon O'Connor. Mr.
Bernier's office responded on their behalf with these answers:

Q: Have the Prime Minister and ministers Bernier and MacKay met with
Kandahar Governor Asadullah Khalid in Afghanistan or elsewhere? If so, could
you please provide dates and locations and whether the discussion at the
meeting(s) involved the treatment of detainees?

A: During his first trip to Afghanistan in March, 2006, the Prime Minister
was met at the Kandahar Air Field briefly by Governor Asadullah Khalid and
senior tribal elders. The Governor is the senior ranking government official
in Kandahar and, as such, he would greet the Prime Minister upon his arrival
in Kandahar. Minister Bernier has never met with Governor Khalid in
Afghanistan or elsewhere. Minister MacKay has met with Governor Khalid three
times in Kandahar during three visits - twice as Minister of Foreign Affairs
in May, 2006, and in January, 2007, and once as Minister of National Defence
in November, 2007. During the last visit, the Minister of National Defence
raised Canada's concern about the treatment of detainees, including
allegations of mistreatment in the NDS facility in Kandahar. The minister
reiterated Canada's expectation that Afghan authorities will respect their
agreement with Canada on the treatment of detainees.

Q: When were the Prime Minister and ministers Bernier and MacKay briefed
about the allegations reported to Canadian diplomats and officials on or
about April 23, 2007, that Asadullah Khalid was personally involved in the
interrogation of detainees and that "the governor" had beaten and
administered electric shocks to a detainee?

A: The Prime Minister and ministers Bernier and MacKay are briefed regularly
on various aspects of Canada's mission to Afghanistan. Last May, we signed
an arrangement with Afghanistan that strengthened the previous Liberal
arrangement regarding the transfer of Taliban prisoners. Since signing this
supplementary arrangement there have been real improvements in the
monitoring and tracking of detainees. Since May, 2007, Canadian officials
have visited detention facilities in Kandahar and Kabul on 30 occasions. The
arrangement is working.

Q: Was the Prime Minister or ministers Bernier and MacKay briefed on the
meeting between Canadian officials and ICRC officials when the allegations
about the personal involvement of the Kandahar governor in interrogation of
detainees were passed on to the ICRC? When were they told of that meeting?

A: The Prime Minister and ministers Bernier and MacKay are briefed regularly
on various aspects of Canada's mission to Afghanistan, including allegations
of mistreatment of detainees.

Meetings between Canadian and ICRC officials occur periodically. As is our
policy and practice, Canadian officials inform the AIHRC [Afghanistan
Independent Human Rights Commission], the ICRC [International Committee of
the Red Cross] and Afghan authorities of any allegations of mistreatment of
detainees.

Q: Have the Prime Minister and ministers Bernier and MacKay ever discussed
the governor's alleged personal involvement in the interrogation of
detainees with Mr. Khalid or Mr. Karzai?

A: The Prime Minister, the ministers of Foreign Affairs and National
Defence, as well as Canada's ambassador to Afghanistan have had a number of
frank discussions with President Karzai on a range of issues, including the
treatment of detainees.

As stated previously, the Prime Minister has met only briefly with Mr.
Khalid in March, 2006, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs has never met Mr.
Khalid. The Minister of National Defence raised Canada's concern about the
treatment of detainees with Mr. Khalid in November, 2007. The minister
reiterated Canada's expectation that Afghan authorities will respect their
agreement with Canada on the treatment of detainees.

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