Canadians tortured in Syria: Lawyer calls for investigation into RCMP
On Sept. 19, the CBC's Terence McKenna shared details with The Current about a trove of documents he'd obtained relating to three Canadians tortured in Syria.
As part of this story, McKenna told The Current's Anna Maria Tremonti that the emails about the case of Canadian Ahmad El Maati leave no doubt the RCMP was aware of torture.
McKenna refers to one email that reads, "He will be arrested and interrogated (Syrian-style)."
These documents shed new light on just how closely the RCMP, CSIS and the Department of Foreign Affairs worked with Syria and Egypt. Law professor Amir Attaran tells Tremonti the email referring to interrogation "Syrian style" may be grounds for a criminal investigation of the RCMP.
"Someone else can read a different meaning into those words. I don't think that's easy to do," says Attaran.
"The reason we need a criminal investigation is to find out what it meant and what the RCMP understood it to mean."
In Attaran's mind it's clear the RCMP knows the use of "well-documented" torture in Syria.
"I think it's shocking that these emails have been sitting in the RCMP's hands for many years," Attaran tells Tremonti.
In a case where the RCMP is involved in allegations, Attaran says it's best to hand the investigation off to another police force.
"To me it's inexcusable that the senior RCMP staff have not already asked for an outside police force to investigate whether any crimes were committed."
The RCMP officer who wrote the emails has not been identified.
The Current did ask Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale — who oversees the RCMP — to discuss a potential criminal investigation. He declined. But he did tell The Current, "We have already taken one very important step which is coming forward with Bill C-22, the proposed new committee of parliamentarians to examine every dimension of national security framework and activity. This would be the first time that that kind of review mechanism has been in place in Canada."
Listen to the full conversation at the top of this web post.
This segment was produced by The Current's John Chipman.