Torture

UN report says abuse and torture persists in Afghan jails

Sujets: 
Afghanistan, Torture
Scores: 
3

300 credible prisoner abuse cases revealed in report, including 6 children

James Cudmore – January 23, 2013

The United Nations has once again found that torture and abuse of prisoners — even children — is rampant in the Afghan prisons to which Canada once sent its detainees.

A new report, released this week by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, found that the country's infamous National Directorate of Security (NDS) still regularly engages in torture and abuse in its facilities across the war-torn country.

"Zero Dark Thirty" exposes Washington, Hollywood relationship

Sujets: 
USA, National security, Torture, Message control or 'spin'
Scores: 
2

Michael Hastings – January 10, 2013

During President Obama’s 100 or so campaign trail speeches this past year, he usually received the biggest applause for mentioning the killing of Osama Bin Laden. The lines were real crowd pleasers. Zero Dark Thirty picks up where the cheers from the Obama rallies died off.

Rather than casting Obama and the White House as heroes, though, the film lets the men and women of the Central Intelligence Agency play the protagonists with the true claim to Bin Laden’s scalp.

Canadian groups raise concerns at UN about shortcomings in freedom of expression and other rights

Sujets: 
Access to information, Freedom of the press, Torture, Policing
Scores: 
0

Don Butler – October 12, 2012

With Canada's human rights record due to come under a microscope next year at the United Nations, five organizations have raised a red flag about this country's weakening support for freedom of expression and access to information.

The organizations - PEN Canada, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, Lawyers' Rights Watch Canada, the Centre for Law and Demo­cracy and the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association - outline "significant shortcomings" in Canada's law and policy regarding freedom of expression.

UN report accuses Canada of complicity in torture

Sujets: 
Government ethics, Afghanistan, Torture
Scores: 
0

Charmaine Noronha– June 3, 2012

The Canadian government on Saturday criticized a United Nations agency for issuing a report condemning Canada for complicity in torture and human rights violations in Afghanistan and Syria.

A report from the U.N. Committee Against Torture issued Friday said Canadian military commanders didn't do enough to ensure the safety of detainees handed over to Afghan security forces during the Afghan combat mission, which ended last year, despite a substantial risk that they would be tortured.

The Case Of An Accused Leaker: Politics Or Justice?

Sujets: 
USA, Torture, National security, Espionage
Scores: 
2

Carrie Johnson – April 22, 2012

Former CIA official John Kiriakou heads to a Virginia courthouse Friday, where he's expected to plead not guilty. He's the sixth person accused of violating the Espionage Act during the Obama presidency.

Prosecutors say Kiriakou, 47, broke a solemn pledge he took when he joined the CIA in 1990 by sharing information about his former colleagues with reporters at The New York Times and ABC News.

NATO halts transfer of detainees to Afghan jails

Sujets: 
Afghanistan, Torture
Scores: 
0

Paul Koring – September 6, 2011

Faced with new evidence of torture by Afghan police and security forces, NATO’s top commander has ordered an immediate halt to detainee transfers, a controversial practice for Canadian and other foreign contingents for years.

The order – only days before the publication of another report, this one from the United Nations, which is expected to detail brutal and systemic torture in Afghan prisons – comes after years of denials from Canada and other Western governments that they were complicit in subjecting detainees to torture.

Deportation Order Upheld for Chinese Fugitive

Sujets: 
China, Corruption, Torture
Scores: 
0

Omid Ghoreishi – July 22, 2011

A federal court upheld the decision to deport Chinese fugitive Lai Changxing to China on Thursday night.

Lai, who is accused of masterminding a multi-billion dollar smuggling ring in China, was fighting against a deportation order handed down to him earlier this month after four years of deliberations, just a few days ahead of Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird’s trip to China.

Chinese fugitive loses last battle to stay in Canada

Sujets: 
China, Corruption, Torture
Scores: 
0
Lai Changxing

Petti Fong – July 22, 2011

A Chinese fugitive’s 11-year battle to stay in Canada ended Thursday night after a federal court refused to stay the deportation of Lai Changxing.

Lai has been rejected as a refugee in Canada after claiming asylum based on fears that he will be executed if forced to return to face criminal charges for corruption and smuggling.

Decision to deport fugitive comes as Baird off to Beijing

Sujets: 
China, Torture
Scores: 
0

Rod Mickleburgh – July 14, 2011

Immigration Canada had spent four years weighing the risk of torture that Chinese fugitive Lai Changxing faces if our country delivers him to China’s problematic criminal justice system.

So, after all that time, when did the ministry’s delegate finally hand down an assessment that Mr. Lai is not in danger of mistreatment at the hands of Chinese authorities?

Honoring Those Who Said No To Torture

Sujets: 
USA, Torture
Scores: 
0

Jameel Jaffer and Larry Siems – April 27, 2011

IN January 2004, Spec. Joseph M. Darby, a 24-year-old Army reservist in Iraq, discovered a set of photographs showing other members of his company torturing prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison. The discovery anguished him, and he struggled over how to respond. “I had the choice between what I knew was morally right, and my loyalty to other soldiers,” he recalled later. “I couldn’t have it both ways.”

So he copied the photographs onto a CD, sealed it in an envelope, and delivered the envelope and an anonymous letter to the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command. Three months later — seven years ago today — the photographs were published. Specialist Darby soon found himself the target of death threats, but he had no regrets.

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