Canada quietly halted transfer of Afghan detainees

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: Reuters

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan 23 (Reuters) - The Canadian military quietly stopped transferring detainees in Afghanistan to the control of Afghan authorities due to concern over torture allegations, according to a government letter released on Wednesday.

Canada stopped the transfers in November but did not disclose the change in policy until this week, according to Amnesty International and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, which released the letter.

The groups have sued the federal government over the transfer policy, and the letter from Canada's Department of Justice was sent to the groups as part of that case.

Justice officials said the transfers were stopped after receiving a report in November from a Canadian monitoring group with a credible allegation of mistreatment at an Afghan detention facility.

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N23166892.htm