Skepticism greets launch of Afghan detainee inquiry (Globe & Mail | Canada)

[struggle4progress]

On opening day, probe criticized by Ottawa lawyer who first called for complaints commission to investigate

By Bill Curry

Ottawa — From Tuesday's Globe and Mail, Monday, May. 25, 2009 06:14PM EDT

... “If the Military Police Complaints Commission proves, in this week particularly but also in coming months, that the best it can muster is a non-adversarial process in which it won't use its subpoena powers, well, then one wonders why it exists,” Mr. Attaran said.

Monday's opening session of the inquiry into whether Canada's military knowingly sent Afghan detainees to be tortured by Afghan officials comes after two years of attempts by the federal government to block the proceedings on national security grounds. It is only the second time in the commission's history that it has held public hearings.

Human-rights advocates, including Mr. Attaran, want the inquiry to determine whether Canada's actions violated the United Nations Convention Against Torture, which forbids a state from returning a person to a country where there are substantial grounds for believing the person will be tortured.

The inquiry was launched even though the Federal Court is scheduled to hear arguments in August from the federal government objecting to the investigation as being beyond the commission's mandate ...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/skepticism-greets-launch-of-afghan-detainee-inquiry/article1152371/