Canada should investigate torture claims against Dick Cheney: HRW
Canada should bring criminal charges against former United States Vice President Dick Cheney for allowing torture of Canadian detainees under abusive interrogation techniques in guise of national security, says Human Rights Watch.
Toronto: The Canadian government should be prepared to bring criminal charges against former US Vice President Dick Cheney for his alleged role in the torture of detainees when he visits Vancouver on September 26, 2011, Human Rights Watch said today.
- Former US Vice President Cheney speaks about national security at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington/ Photo credit: Reuters
Overwhelming evidence of torture by the Bush administration, including at least two cases involving Canadian citizens, obligates Canada to investigate Cheney to comply with the Convention Against Torture, Human Rights Watch said.
In addition, Canadian law expressly provides for jurisdiction over an individual for torture and other crimes if the complainant is a Canadian citizen, even for offenses committed outside of Canada. Canada ratified the Convention against Torture in 1987 and incorporated its provisions into the Canadian criminal code.
“The US has utterly failed to meet its legal obligation to investigate torture by the Bush administration, but that shouldn’t let other countries off the hook,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “Cheney’s visit to Vancouver is a rare opportunity to remedy this shameful failure to uphold the rule of law.”
Human Rights Watch has documented the role of senior Bush administration officials in authorizing torture of detainees, including “waterboarding” and prolonged exposure to heat and cold. The US was directly responsible or complicit in the alleged torture of at least two Canadian citizens, Maher Arar and Omar Khadr.
Cheney played a key role in the formulation of US detainee policy and was a member of the National Security Council “Principals Committee,” which approved interrogation policies. He was critical in pressing US Justice Department officials to provide authorization in mid-2002 for the use of coerced interrogation methods. Cheney’s memoir, In My Time, published in August, details his continued support of abusive interrogation techniques, which he calls “critically important … to … national security.”
“Canada’s own investigation into the Maher Arar case shows there is sufficient evidence to investigate Cheney for authorizing torture,” Roth said. “Bush, Cheney, and others authorized the abusive detention regime that Canadians and thousands of others were subjected to. They should be held accountable.”
Human Rights Watch said that the US government's failure to investigate US officials for the torture and ill-treatment of detainees undermines global efforts to press for accountability for human rights violations. President Barack Obama has repeatedly expressed a reluctance to “look backwards” at alleged crimes committed during the previous administration.
In February 2011, former President George W. Bush cancelled a trip to address a charity gala in Geneva, Switzerland after it was reported complaints were going to be filed against him with the Geneva Canton prosecutor for authorizing torture and other ill-treatment. The planned complaints, by a current and a former Guantanamo detainee, alleged beatings, shackling in stress positions, prolonged food and sleep deprivation, and extremes of heat and cold while in US custody.
“Canada should make clear that torture is a crime, not a policy option,” Roth said. “The best way to do that is to show that Canada is not a safe haven for torturers.”
