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Last update - 00:00 17/01/2008
Canadian FM puts Israel, U.S. on torture watch list
By Reuters
Tags: Israel, torture, U.S., Canada

Canada's foreign ministry has put the United States and Israel on a watch list of countries where prisoners risk being tortured and also classifies some U.S. interrogation techniques as torture, according to a document obtained by Reuters on Thursday.

The revelation is likely to embarrass the minority Conservative government, which is a staunch ally of both the United States and Israel. Both nations denied they allowed torture in their jails.

The document - part of a training course on torture awareness given to diplomats - mistakenly provided the document to Amnesty International Canada as part of a court case the rights organization has launched against Ottawa over the treatment of detainees in Afghanistan.
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Amnesty Secretary-General Alex Neve told Reuters his group had very clear evidence of abuse in U.S. and Israeli jails.

"It's therefore reassuring and refreshing to see that ... both of those countries have been listed and that foreign policy considerations didn't trump the human rights concern and keep them off the list," he said.

Other countries on the watch list include Syria, China, Iran, Afghanistan, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.

"If Israel is included in the list in question, the ambassador of Israel would expect its removal," said Israeli embassy spokesman Michael Mendel.

Under "definition of torture" the document lists U.S. interrogation techniques such as forced nudity, isolation, sleep deprivation and blindfolding prisoners.

"The United States does not permit, tolerate, or condone torture under any circumstances," said a spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy in Ottawa.

A spokesman for Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier tried to distance Ottawa from the document.

"The training manual is not a policy document and does not reflect the views or policies of this government," he said.

The document mentions the U.S. jail at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba where a Canadian man is being held.

The man, Omar Khadr, is the only Canadian in Guantanamo. His defenders said the document made a mockery of Ottawa's claims that Khadr was not being mistreated.

Khadr has been in Guantanamo Bay for five years. He is accused of killing a U.S. soldier during a clash in Afghanistan in 2002, when he was 15.

Rights groups say Khadr should be repatriated to Canada, an idea that Prime Minister Stephen Harper rejects on the grounds that the man faces serious charges.

"At some point in the course of Omar Khadr's detention the Canadian government developed the suspicion he was being tortured," said William Kuebler, Khadr's U.S. lawyer.

"Yet it has not acted to obtain his release from Guantanamo Bay and protect his rights, unlike every other Western country that has had its nationals detained in Guantanamo Bay," he told CTV television.

The awareness course started after Ottawa was criticized for the way it handled the case of Canadian Maher Arar, who was deported from the United States to Syria in 2002.

Arar says he was tortured repeatedly during the year he spent in Damascus prisons. An inquiry into the case revealed that Canadian diplomats had not received any formal training into detecting whether detainees had been abused
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  1.   Lets be honest, we do torture 22:39  |  American 17/01/08
  2.   and they will removed as quick as they were placed... 22:41  |  viking 17/01/08
  3.   Remarkable,this means that the canadian poodle Harper cannot any 23:10  |  lakshmi 17/01/08
  4.   The right thing to do 23:11  |  Proud Canadian 17/01/08
  5.   51`st staters are afraid of a little rough and tumble 23:14  |  WWACD 17/01/08
  6.   most IDF high commander are nothing else than war criminal 23:20  |  rasta 17/01/08
  7.   Accusation from Canada 23:28  |  Isca 17/01/08
  8.   Well, well Canadians,honor killing in Toronto good,torture bad(1) 23:48  |  Genuine Tosefta 17/01/08
  9.   Well, well Canadians,honor killing in Toronto good,torture bad(2) 23:50  |  Genuine Tosefta 17/01/08
  10.   Same as Arab Terror Exploit Democracy Against us 23:58  |  Joseph E . 17/01/08
  11.   Just because 100 years passed since Canada exterminated Indians 23:59  |  Genuine Tosefta 17/01/08
  12.   Com`on Rasta, have you met any criminal IDF high comndr 01:11  |  Genuine Tosefta 18/01/08
  13.   Genuine Tosefta, is your racism a Jewish Trait? 01:17  |  POP 18/01/08
  14.   #to Tosefta 01:32  |  from Canada 18/01/08
  15.   Canadian FM 02:15  |  Nechama 18/01/08
  16.   Genuine idiot -Canada you are wrong 02:20  |  Mark Lincoln 18/01/08
  17.   genuine tosefta 11 06:22  |  realism 18/01/08
  18.   I don`t care..... 15:47  |  bill pearlman 18/01/08
  19.   good for canada to condemn meaness 17:19  |  bozhida balkas 18/01/08
  20.   That`s why I`m proud that I live in Canada 17:27  |  Eric 18/01/08
  21.   Very Sad 19:14  |  Mike 18/01/08
  22.   Shocker 02:58  |  Dee 19/01/08
  23.   Eric 04:18  |  whoCares 19/01/08
  24.   Tourture 04:27  |  Ted 19/01/08
  25.   Canada 05:48  |  Gordon 19/01/08
  26.   To #14 05:54  |  Gordon 19/01/08
  27.   The USA & Israel Torture: Ask victims! 13:27  |  Ehud 19/01/08
  28.   So who are the americans protecting us form again? 07:35  |  Karnac 07/03/09
  29.   Oh speak out your experience! 07:36  |  Karnac 07/03/09
  30.   Canada like all the americas and most of the world 07:46  |  Karnac 07/03/09
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