Retired diplomat Gar Pardy was praised by judge for his role on Arar file.

By Tonda MacCharles

OTTAWA  –The RCMP has already launched an unprecedented probe of allegations that Canadian government officials turned a blind eye to torture in the past, raising the possibility it could act again on the question of the transfer of detainees in Afghanistan.

The Star has learned the RCMP began an investigation in 2006 into whether charges against Canadian officials were warranted in the case of Maher Arar, a Canadian who was rendered to a Syrian prison, where he was tortured.

One of the officials probed, retired diplomat Gar Pardy, says there is a real issue of potential legal liability for civil servants who fail to report or act on suspicions of abuse.

The prospect of facing charges is “not far-fetched at all,” said Pardy.

Pardy, a former Canadian ambassador, has led a campaign now joined by almost three dozen former heads of mission defending Richard Colvin, the diplomat-turned-whistleblower in the detainee scandal, who has faced withering attacks on his credibility by the governing Conservatives.

Project Prism, an investigation into the actions of Canadian government officials who might have had knowledge of or were negligent in the torture ordeal of Arar, was launched following a complaint by Toronto-based lawyer Marlys Edwardh. Edwardh was one of Arar’s team of lawyers. That investigation is believed to be ongoing.

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Tags: Afghan Detainees, Afghanistan, Canadian government, Gar Pardy, Maher Arar, Marlys Edwardh, Project Prism, RCMP, Richard Colvin, Torture

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