US on Canada's torture risk list....

Another time to bow our heads in shame and shed a single tear, as Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier apologizes for "wrongly" placing the USA and Israel on the list of countries where people risk facing torture.



Torture manual 'wrongly' lists allies: Bernier

DAVID LJUNGGREN Reuters - January 19, 2008 at 11:49 AM EST

It contains a list that wrongly includes some of our closest allies. I have directed that the manual be reviewed and rewritten," Mr. Bernier said in a statement.
...
Under "definition of torture" the document lists U.S. interrogation techniques such as forced nudity, isolation, sleep deprivation and blindfolding prisoners.

It also mentions the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, where Canadian Omar Khadr has been held five years. He is accused of killing a U.S. soldier during a clash in Afghanistan in 2002, when he was 15.

Other countries on the watch list include Syria, China, Iran, Afghanistan, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.

The foreign ministry launched the torture awareness course after Ottawa was rapped for the way it handled the case of Maher Arar, who was deported from the United States to Syria in 2002.

Contact or drop by and talk to the Minister!
The Honourable Maxime Bernier, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Foreign Affairs

Parliament Hill:
Telephone: (613) 992-8053
Fax: (613) 995-0687

Department:
Foreign Affairs
Lester B. Pearson Building, Tower "A", 10th Floor
125 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0G2
Telephone: (613) 995-1851
Fax: (613) 996-3443
E-Mail: