Canada puts Israel and USA on torture watchlist
CTV: Canada’s new focus on torture was ordered by the inquiry into Maher Arar’s nightmare in Syria. U.S. authorities sent Arar — a Canadian of Syrian ancestry — to Syria after he made a brief stopover in New York in 2002. They wrongly accused him of having links to terrorism in large part because of information provided by the RCMP.Arar was sent to a Syrian prison where he was tortured for nearly a year. An inquiry into the Arar affair ordered a new focus on torture, and CTV News has learned that, as part of a “torture awareness workshop,” diplomats are now being told where to watch for abuse.
The goal of the workshop was to teach diplomats who visit Canadians in foreign jails how to tell if they’ve been tortured. It also listed countries and places with greater risks of torture. The list includes Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, and China. But surprisingly, it also included the United States, Guantanamo Bay, and Israel.
