OTTAWA - Human-rights groups are petitioning the Federal Court of Canada to stop Canadian soldiers from giving up control of enemy combatants captured during fighting in Afghanistan.
Amnesty International and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association have asked the federal government to put a stop to transfers of detainees until the court reaches a decision on the constitutionality of surrendering captives to foreign governments, especially those with questionable human-rights records.
A lawyer for the groups says Canadian troops have captured between 40 and 50 Taliban and al-Qaida fighters since they joined the war on terrorism in Afghanistan in 2002.
The groups say there is no monitoring of compliance with federal government commitments to assure that prisoners will not be tortured and that the rules of the Geneva Conventions will be respected once the detainees are turned over to Afghan authorities.
The groups say reports by the International Committee of the Red Cross on conditions faced by detainees turned over to Afghan authorities have not been made public.
Amnesty's Alex Neve says Afghanistan, with which Ottawa has a detainee-exchange agreement, is notorious for its use of torture.
