FACTS:
Canadians have been detained and tortured abroad with the "indirect"participation of CSIS and RCMP.
In one of the cases, Ahmad El Maati, a Canadian Citizen was tortured with electric shocks and more, being detained and tortured in Syria after CSIS shared information with foreign agencies that inaccurately characterized him as being an “Islamic extremist” linked to “an aide of Osama Bin Laden.”
The Iacobucci Inquiry found that CSIS (and the RCMP) received a “confession” extracted under torture from Ahmad El Maati in November 2001, then crafted a new set of questions to send back to El Maati’s Syrian interrogators in an attempt to “corroborate” the confession.
This confession under toture was used by the RCMP to justify search warrants and telephone taps in Canada and the information obtained through the searches was used to write more questions for interrogators (torturers) to ask not just El Maati, but also another Canadian Citizen - Abdullah Almalki.
TRUTH THAT MAKES SENSE:
CSIS lawyer Geoffrey O’Brian, said the spy agency still uses information that may have been obtained by torture in national security investigations "if lives are at stake".
He offered the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security lengthy and substantive answers and even quoted a British House of Lords 2005 decision to explain the agency's approach.
His testimony can be watched HERE.
His testimony is compatible with the facts.
Mr. O’Brian, who has been with CSIS since the eighties is a veteran CSIS adviser and a lawyer. He helped draft the CSIS Act. Chances are high that he knows what he is talking about. And the facts seem to corroborate his statements.
But Jim Judd, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, told a Commons Public Safety Committee, on Thursday, April 2, 2009, that a CSIS official misspoke on the subject.
Our hearts go to Mr. O'Brian, who apparently is the one who was candid with Canadian Representatives and who appears to know what he is talking about!
The truth, in a Democracy and in life , is always better than a cover up or a lie .
More:
1) Jim Judd's HERE.
2) Torture of Canadian Citizens with the "indirect" participation fo Canadain officials - Iacobucci and O'Connor Report - HERE and HERE
3) The truth and nothing but the truth - the story of Canadian national security investigations gone terribly wrong, , told through the experiences of four of its targets: Ahmad El Maati, Abdullah Almalki, Maher Arar and Muayyed Nureddin - Dark Days - HERE
4) CSIS in Guantanamo - Americans Nototrious Torture Prison:
The Report - the Canadian Officials participation in interrogation in the notorious Torture prison of Guantanamo:
The report is on line at:
The University of California Davis Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas (CSHRA) - Guantanamo Testimonies - HERE
An extract of the report:
"PAGE 9 of the Report : Preparing the 12 year-old Canadian for the Canadian "visit" :
"6. In an effort to make him more amenable and willing to talk,(blacked out)_ has placed Umar
on the -frequent flyer program: for the three weeks before Mr(blacked out) ~s visit, Umar has not been permitted more than three hours in anyone location. At three hours intervals
he is moved to another cell block, thus denying him uninterrupted'sleep and a continued change of neighbours. He will soon be placed in isolation for up to three weeks and then he will be interviewed again".
5) The Politics of Torture - The Pinochet Case HERE
