No getting around blame for torture – By Eileen Argyris
NORTHUMBERLAND, DURHAM, ONTARIO – Today, if you are a teacher, a doctor, or even a neighbour or passerby, and you suspect child abuse and do not report it, you are liable to legal penalties.
That being the climate of our society – that we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers – one might wonder why there is any need for the Caravan to End Canadian Involvement in Torture.
Yet, there is. The Caravan was in Port Hope this week on Sunday and in Cobourg, at St. Mary’s Secondary School, on Monday.
St. Mary’s, under the inspired and inspirational leadership of teacher Gary O’Dwyer, has been well known on the local scene for exposing its students to some of the harsh realities of life and encouraging them to take sides and take action for justice.
In information supplied by the Caravan, Canada is not accused of being an explicit torturer but cannot be excused because our country has been complicit in actions that resulted in torture.
If Canadians believe that those who fail to report child abuse are complicit in that abuse, how can we deny our complicity in torture when we allow the “rendition” of citizens – Canadian citizens – to countries where they are likely to be tortured?
In fact, torture should be banned all over the world, not just for its inhumanity, but because it doesn’t work. After a while, most people will say anything in the hope that the suffering will cease – even if that cessation comes at the expense of their lives.
“Confessions” thus extracted, are not reliable, nor is any information that is parroted back to the interrogator.
Travelling with the Caravan, Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El Maati and Muayyed Nureddin all described exactly this experience. Each confessed under torture, in Egypt or Syria, to acts he had not committed.
None of the three, under the all-concealing cloak of national security, is allowed to attend the inquiries into their experiences, initiated by information from the RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).
At the moment the target group for these extraordinary renditions is mainly made up of Muslim men. In the post-9/11 climate, it seems, anything goes.
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