Â鶹ӰÊÓ

Critics are blasting the Canadian government and calling for the defence minister's resignation over new allegations that Afghan prisoners had been tortured.

"If this report is accurate, Canadians have engaged in war crimes, not just individually but as matters of policy," said Michael Byers, a professor of international law, on Monday.

"Canadian forces cannot be turned into a collection agency for torturers, and Mr. O'Connor and Gen. Hillier have let it become that," added law professor Amir Attaran.

He was referring to Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor and Gen. Rick Hillier, chief of defence staff for the Canadian Armed Forces.

The Globe and Mail newspaper reported Monday that Afghans handed over to local authorities after being interrogated by Canadian soldiers say they have been beaten, whipped, starved, frozen, choked and interrogated by electric shock in Kandahar jails.

Including more than 30 face-to-face interviews with men recently captured in Kandahar province, the newspaper report chronicles claims of abuse by Afghan authorities.

"I think these allegations need to be looked into by our side," Omar Samad, Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada, told Â鶹ӰÊÓnet's Mike Duffy Live.

If they have happened, people will be brought to justice and the "course will be corrected" as necessary, he said. "But it will take a bit of time for us to do this."

In Parliament's question period, the opposition demanded action now.

"Will the prime minister do the right thing and instruct his minister of defence to stop the transfer of prisoners now and get a full inquiry going, then ask for his resignnation," asked NDP Leader Jack Layton.

"We take such allegations seriously," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.

"That's why we've concluded a deal with the Afghan government. It's why we'll be in discussions with them to pursue this matter."

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion at one point suggested bringing detainees to Canada, but then reconsidered the idea as unrealistic.

"I'm not sure what the leader of the opposition is suggesting. We're not going to bring Taliban prisoners to Canada," Harper said.

Deputy Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, who said he had visited Afghan detention centres, said he had no confidence in the local human rights commission to protect prisoners.

"When will the prime minister replace his minister of national defence, who is incompetent, and replace him with a minister who can be sure the Geneva Convention will be respected by our allies and by Canada itself?" he asked.

O'Connor rose to assert that "everyone knows" Canadian forces treat detainees with the proper care.

"We have made a recent agreement with the human rights commission of Afghanistan and they have guaranteed that they will report to us any abuses of detainees we transfer," O'Connor said.

"I have the personal assurance of the leader of the human rights commission in Kandahar and the national level."

Handover agreement

After a detainee is questioned at Kandahar Air Field, Canadian Forces usually hand over prisoners to the National Directorate of Security (NDS) -- Afghanistan's feared intelligence police.

But under the handover agreement, signed by Hillier in 2005, Canada has no jurisdiction to follow up on the condition of detainees once the handover is made.

None of the captured Afghans -- including those who clearly align themselves with the Taliban -- claimed abuse at the hands of Canadians.

In fact, Canadian Forces were often praised for gentle handling of captives and humane detention facilities.

However, one impoverished farmer, Mahmad Gul, 33, told The Globe that he was interrogated and beaten for three days in May 2006 by the Afghan police -- within earshot of Canadian soldiers who visited him between attacks.

"The Canadians told me, 'Give them real information, or they will do more bad things to you,' " said Gul.

The most gruesome stories come from those held in the cramped basement cells below NDS headquarters in Kandahar.

Most of them reported that they were whipped with electrical cables, some to the point of unconsciousness.

Other said they were stripped and forced to stand outside through cold winter nights in Kandahar, when temperatures drop below freezing.

Colonel Shir Ali Saddiqui, human-rights ombudsman for the Kandahar police department, told The Globe that he was only aware of two complaints of abuse within the past year of prisoners in police custody.

He said police are taking steps to prevent such actions. He did however say that his colleagues at the NDS sometimes needed to get rough with detainees.

"In these cases, these people need some torture, because without torture they will never say anything," said Saddiqui.

Sadullah Khan, Kandahar NDS chief, initially denied any allegations of torture but eventually acknowledged that minor mistakes have been made.

"We never beat people," he said. "Maybe small things happened, but now we're trying to leave those things behind."

Criminal charges

Byers and Attaran told The Canadian Press that the only solution is for the Conservatives to build their own detention centre overseas.

"These are the most serious allegations, they cast Canada's reputation into a serious shadow," said Byers.

"They raise issues of criminal prosecutions, both here and abroad."

Byers and Attaran both raised the possibility that Canadian troops could be prosecuted in foreign countries, or even in Canada, if they were found to knowingly have been transferring detainees into a situation where torture would be used.

Attaran told CTV that Canada is to blame for the situation.

He said Hillier essentially set up a "nudge-nudge, wink-wink" situation with the Afghan authorities.

"We knew the Afghans were torturing people but we wanted to hand the detainees to the Afghans so that they could be tortured and intelligence could be wrung out of them. ... we're outsourcing it."

On April 2, during a visit to Kandahar, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said Canada was confident about its relationship with Afghan security services.

"We've got good confidence levels," said Day, whose portfolio includes the Correctional Service of Canada, the agency trying to improve Kandahar's prisons.

"We're seeing an increased understanding and appreciation for human rights."

Last month, O'Connor recanted after falsely claiming that the International Red Cross would inform Canada if detainees were wrongly treated or abused while in Afghan custody.

The Red Cross does monitor the detention facilities but has a policy of only revealing its findings to the country where it is inspecting.

With a report from CTV's Roger Smith