Senior Canadian diplomat Richard Colvin says Canadian troops in Afghanistan handed over detainees to the Afghan authorities knowing they would be tortured.

Mr Colvin, the number-two man at the Canadian embassy in Kabul in 2006 and 2007, made his allegations before a parliamentary committee in Ottawa. He said most of the detainees were wrongly detained peasants. Mr Colvin also said his warnings were ignored by military commanders and government officials until reports of prisoner abuse began to appear in the media.
 

Top-level foreign office officials allegedly then instructed diplomats not to keep written records of discussions of torture allegations. The Canadian government denies there is any firm evidence that prisoners handed over by Canadian forces were actually tortured.

Photo: Canadian diplomat Richard Colvin (in white shirt) and Defence Minister Peter Mackay (centre) in Kandahar in May 2006 (Jim Farrel, Edmonton Journal)