UN rights body calls on Canada to investigate reports of complicity in torture News
UN rights body calls on Canada to investigate reports of complicity in torture

[JURIST] The UN Human Rights Committee [official website] urged in a report Wednesday that Canada [JURIST news archive] open an investigation into allegations that its law enforcement agencies cooperated in the torture of several Canadian citizens detained in Middle Eastern countries. UN rights experts said they were "concerned" about reports that Canada cooperated with Syria in the arrest and torture of four different citizens in the hope of gaining information from them. The UN report comes after various Canadian have themselves called for an investigation [JURIST report] into the allegations. A public inquiry [official website] was opened last year into the case of Maher Arar [advocacy website] who was sent to Syria after being detained in the US on his way back to Canada from Tunisia, but at least three other Canadians [CBC backgrounder] have alleged similar cases to Arar's. The UN committee urged the Canadian government to open inquiries into the other cases. The Toronto Globe and Mail has more.