Afghanistan

Whistleblower under attack

Topics: 
Richard Colvin, Afghanistan
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The future is not necessarily bright for the 15-year veteran of foreign service after his testimony before MPs this week

November 20, 2009

OTTAWA–Richard Colvin at age 40 now holds the dubious and unlikely title of "whistleblower." It's a label the 15-year veteran of Canada's foreign service, currently the deputy head of security and intelligence in Canada's embassy in Washington, might find fatal to his career.

Although the Conservatives promised protection for whistleblowers, Defence Minister Peter MacKay, once foreign affairs minister and Colvin's political boss high on the chain of command, clearly has Colvin in his sights.

Critics want Afghan torture case inquiry

Topics: 
Richard Colvin, Afghanistan
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Ottawa paints whistleblower as Taliban dupe

November 20, 2009

OTTAWA–The Conservative government has rejected calls for an inquiry into a Canadian diplomat's explosive allegations that Canada's handling of Afghan detainees likely broke international law, saying the allegations were based on Taliban propaganda and baseless reports.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay said testimony Wednesday by Richard Colvin, former deputy head of the Canadian embassy in Afghanistan, is not to be believed.

Richard Colvin's testimony

Topics: 
Justice Department, Richard Colvin, Afghanistan, Testimony, Audio
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Testimony to the Special Committee on the Canadian Mission in Afghanistan – November 18, 2009

Senior diplomat Richard Colvin's opening statement describes the nature of his concerns regarding the likely torture of detainees handed over to Afghan security forces, his attempts to bring these concerns to the attention of the leaders of various government bodies, and the importance of this issue to Canadians and to the success of our mission in Afghanistan.

The following are unofficial, unedited transcripts.

 

Canada turned blind eye to Afghan abuses: diplomat

Topics: 
Richard Colvin, Afghanistan
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Nov 18, 2009
By David Ljunggren

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Senior Canadian military and government officials ignored evidence that Afghan authorities were torturing detainees handed over by Canada's troops and then tried to silence those who raised the alarm, a senior diplomat said on Wednesday.

Richard Colvin said many of those arrested by the Canadian military were innocent and the practice of handing over prisoners knowing they could be abused was a war crime.

DFAIT truth-teller at risk; Advice for Integrity Commissioner; White collar crime

Another courageous DFAIT truth-teller at risk?

The Military Police Complaints Commission (MPCC) was formed after the shameful events that took place in Somalia in 1993, when Canadian soldiers taking part in a humanitarian mission beat to death a Somali teenager. A CBC reporter was given altered documents, leading to allegations of a cover-up, and an inquiry that was uncovering serious problems with the leadership of the mission was abruptly cut short by the government.

The Richard Colvin Case

Topics: 
Whistleblowers, Justice Department, Richard Colvin, Afghanistan
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Richard Colvin
Richard Colvin

Richard Colvin was a senior diplomat posted in Afghanistan from April 2006  to October 2007. Starting in May 2006 he repeatedly raised concerns about the potential for torture of prisoners handed over by the Canadian military to Afghan police.

He raised these concerns to senior officials at Foreign Affairs and National Defence, copying 79 different people across government.

Canadians warned early that Afghan detainees faced torture

Topics: 
Richard Colvin, Afghanistan
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Diplomat on the ground first sounded the alarm nearly three and a half years ago

Steven Chase
Gatineau, Quebec — Globe and Mail, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009

Almost from the start of its big 2006 push into southern Afghanistan, Canada's senior military and government officials were warned of “serious, imminent and alarming” problems with handing over captured prisoners to that country's notorious jails.

This politically explosive revelation, which emerged Wednesday at an inquiry into whether Canada knowingly put Afghan detainees at risk of torture, shows a Canadian diplomat started red-flagging detainee transfers in May, 2006, a full year before Ottawa acted to bolster safeguards for them.

Ottawa leaned on diplomat to stop Afghan testimony: lawyer

Topics: 
Justice Department, Richard Colvin, Afghanistan
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‘According to your letter, government servants might face greater risk to reputation and carry the potential burden of exposing military and other colleagues and peers to disciplinary penalties'

Steven Chase
Ottawa — Globe and Mail, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2009

Canadian government lawyers have actively discouraged witnesses from co-operating with a probe into whether Canada knowingly put Afghan prisoners at risk of torture, a lawyer involved in the case has said.

The serious charge was levelled Tuesday by the lawyer representing a Canadian diplomat who's defying Department of Justice efforts to stop him from testifying at the inquiry.

Federal lawyers pressure diplomat at detainees probe: lawyer

Topics: 
Justice Department, Richard Colvin, Afghanistan, Legal ethics
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‘The interests of justice are not served when an ordinary witness is threatened by the Department of Justice for abiding by the terms of a subpoena served on him'

Tu Thanh Ha – October 6, 2009

Federal lawyers are using the anti-terrorism law to bully a diplomat who planned to testify about prisoners risking torture when Canadian troops hand them to Afghan officials, his attorney alleges in a letter obtained by The Globe and Mail.

Richard Colvin had been subpoenaed before a public inquiry into the treatment of Afghan detainees, which resumes hearings Wednesday.

Canadian diplomat reported Afghan prisoner abuse in 2006

Topics: 
Richard Colvin, Afghanistan
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By Janice Tibbetts
Canwest News Service, October 13, 2009

GATINEAU, Que. — One of Canada's former top diplomats in Afghanistan says he repeatedly sounded alarms to his superiors and the military about handing captives over to Afghan control — warnings that began almost a full year before the government publicly claimed it had no credible reports of detainee abuse.

Richard Colvin, in an affidavit unsealed Wednesday by the Military Police Complaints Commission, said he wrote his first report, raising "serious, imminent and alarming" concerns of detainee abuse only one month after arriving in Afghanistan in April 2006.

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