UK Resident Held at Gitmo Alleges Canadian Involvement in Tourture

UK Resident Held at Gitmo Alleges Canadian Involvement in Tourture

www.cbc.ca

Binyam Mohamed, 31, claims to have been tortured after being arrested in Pakistan in 2002. And he alleges that Britain was complicit in the torture and Canada may have also had a role in his rendition.

Mohamed was flown to Morocco after his arrest and interrogated. He alleges that after refusing to speak with Americans, a third-party intermediary, who called herself "Sarah, the Canadian," was brought in.

"If you don't talk to me, the Americans are getting ready to carry out torture,"...

(visit the link for the full news article)

I know there is a thread about this man already going on the board, but this is a different story relating to the man's case, involving Canada's alleged involvement.

As a proud Canadian who was raised in a military family I really hope that these allegations prove wrong, but I'm not that naive either.

Is it the policy of the Canadian government, as well as the former Liberal government, that torture is acceptable so long as a blind eye is turned and we're not the ones doing it?

It's sad because as a Canadian I sometimes shake my head at what the United States government has done for the last 8 years, but I often forget that American policy is Canadian policy when it comes to our governments, and Canada will comply with the United States in whatever way suits the US. This story brings me down to earth a little bit and makes me remember that out government is not that better. Peace.

www.cbc.ca
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 6-2-2009 by matth]

Oh... CSIS might have been up to their tricks again.

Yeah, if Canadian agents knew the US was going to push for torture on Binyam, even by trying to give him a possible out, just knowing about it and not exposing it would be complicity.


I'm not delusional regarding my nation either. Heck, we just saw an attempted political coop fail just a couple of months ago, led by the NDP, Libs, and BQ... luckily it failed. But it's a clear sign that even Canada isn't without our share of crooks.


I'm just glad it wasn't us who intentionally went about setting up the torture process... there's going to be hell enough to pay below the border.

Say, isn't the US still on the Canadian Torture Watch List?

reply to post by johnsky


Yeah I agree the United States is going to have a lot to answer to in the future about their role in torture, but I really hope that it isn't revealed that our government were nothing more than lackeys to the US government. Not to this extent at least!

As a life long citizen of Canada, this honestly doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Our government has bent over backwards for the USA since the early 50's, and I can easily see CSIS getting in on a little torture action.

Don't believe me? Look up some quotes from a NYT interview with the now-leader of the Liberal party Michael Ignatief, in 2004. He openly advocated a big brother state with imprisonment and torture for the good of the people =/

"To combat evil we must do evil" was the most memorable portion of that interview. Now he is in line to lead the country. Lovely.

Originally posted by johnsky
I'm not delusional regarding my nation either. Heck, we just saw an attempted political coop fail just a couple of months ago, led by the NDP, Libs, and BQ... luckily it failed. But it's a clear sign that even Canada isn't without our share of crooks.

CSIS still has a lot to answer for in the Arar case, and it's also high-time that Steve got off his butt and got Khadr out of Gitmo, and into the Canadian judicial system. There's been too much lockstep with the US intelligence agencies who don't have the best record these days...in either human rights or just plain competence.

But I just want to say, for those who are unsure of how a Parliamentary Democracy works, have no fear, the near-ouster of the (neo)Conservative government was entirely legal. The sky is not falling, and it sure humbled the bums.

I'm wondering. Could it be that she was just called "Sarah the Canadian" and was not really a Canadian? I mean. how would a prisoner really know?

I'm not contradicting the OP, just seems like the abducting 'heroes' could say anything, for all we know they could have been with the YMCA.

Perhaps Sarah wants to participate the torturing in hopes of getting American citizenship, so she was nicknamed the Canadian for now. Or it could be that Canadians are more devious than I thought and they should be watched more carefully.

Originally posted by Maxmars
I'm wondering. Could it be that she was just called "Sarah the Canadian" and was not really a Canadian? I mean. how would a prisoner really know?

It is all kinda "Good Cop, Bad Cop", isn't it? Or should I say "Bon Cop, Bad Cop"?

I wanna hear back on this one.

Originally posted by deltaboy
Perhaps Sarah wants to participate the torturing in hopes of getting American citizenship, so she was nicknamed the Canadian for now. Or it could be that Canadians are more devious than I thought and they should be watched more carefully.

Um... you do realize how easy it is to get US citizenship for a Canadian don't you?

You don't exactly have to do the US government any favors, lol.
In fact, most of our tradespeople, engineers and doctors are practically begged to come to the states. I myself have refused a few offers to move down there.



I think it would be more likely that she originally came from Canada, and already had her American citizenship... so they nicknamed her the Canadian because of where she grew up.

By the way, why do Americans place their citizenship in such high regard?
Your immigration policies aren't much different from the rest of the world.

I'm not naive enough to think this couldn't have happened, but according to another report I've read there is some doubt whether she was Canadian.

Mohamed's diary says the woman told him the Americans were getting ready to torture him if he didn't co-operate. The woman -- whom Mohamed says he never believed was Canadian -- left and the Briton says he was tortured.

Mohamed has maintained all along he never believed Sarah was a Canadian, but an American acting out a ruse.

www.ctv.ca...