MONTREAL, QUEBEC — A French legal expert is warning Canada it will break international law if evidence obtained through torture is used to deport a suspected Basque terrorist.

Didier Rouget, a lawyer who has represented several torture victims, suggested Thursday that Canada is walking a dangerous line if it returns Ivan Apaolaza Sancho to Spain.

Sancho was arrested on a Quebec City ferry last summer and is wanted by Spain for a series of car bombings tied to the violent Basque separatist group ETA.

Sancho’s legal team says his arrest warrant in Spain contains declarations from a woman who alleges she was tortured into making the statements.

Rouget said information from Spanish security services must be used cautiously.

“The use of torture continues to be practised in Spain by security forces and the use of torture is considered frequent,” Rouget told Sancho’s deportation hearing.

William Sloan, Sancho’s lawyer, said the arrest warrant copies verbatim the statements by Ana Belen Egues Gurruchaga, who was arrested by Spanish police in November 2001 following a Madrid car bombing.

Canadian immigration officials have tabled the warrant as part of their justification for Sancho’s deportation.

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