The US, Britain, the Netherlands and Canada rely on "flimsy" diplomacy in attempts to send foreign terror suspects back to countries that routinely use torture against its prisoners, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report to be released yesterday.
The 91-page report by the New York-based group said there was a growing practice among Western nations to seek reassurances of humane treatment of terror suspects while attempting to boot them back to countries with "well-established" records of torture.
Recipient countries have included Egypt, Syria, Uzbekistan, and Yemen, where torture is a systemic human rights problem, HRW said.
"Governments that engage in torture always try to hide what they're doing, so their `assurances' on torture can never be trusted," said Kenneth Roth, HRW's executive director. "This is a very negative trend in international diplomacy, and it's doing real damage to the global taboo against torture."
Such transfers have also been effected or proposed to Algeria, Morocco, Russia, Tunisia, and Turkey, where members of particular groups -- Islamists, Chechens, Kurds -- are routinely singled out for the worst forms of abuse, the group said.
"If these suspects are criminals they should be prosecuted, and if they're not, they should be released," Roth said. "But shipping them off to countries where they'll be tortured is not an acceptable solution."
HRW cited the December 2001 expulsions of two Egyptian asylum seekers from Sweden based on assurances against torture caused a national scandal after the men alleged that they had been tortured and ill-treated in Egyptian custody.
Britain recently proposed securing assurances against torture to transfer terrorist suspects to Algeria and Morocco, countries where persons labeled "terrorists" are routinely targeted for abusive treatment, including torture, HRW said in the report.
Governments in the Netherlands, Austria, Germany and Georgia have also sought assurances to effect extraditions to countries such as Turkey and Russia, where terrorism suspects are at heightened risk of abusive treatment in detention.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa said officials would have no comment on the report until they had seen it.
Canada -- which abolished the death penalty in 1976 -- prides itself on its human rights record and open arms to immigrants and refugees.
Still, HRW condemned Canada for attempting to return terrorism and criminal suspects to Egypt, Morocco and China based on "unreliable assurances" that they would not be tortured or executed.
The report pointed to five Muslims from Arab countries who are being detained on security certificates in Canada. Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the program has allowed authorities to incarcerate terror suspects without charge or bail, based on secret evidence.
Canada obtained assurances from Morocco in April last year that Adil Charkaoui would not be tortured if sent home.
"Governments that are using diplomatic assurances know full well that they don't protect against torture," Roth said.
"But in the age of terror, they're convenient," he said.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service says Charkaoui is a member of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, blamed for deadly attacks in Spain and Morocco. He also a suspected sleeper agent for al-Qaeda. He has been held since May 2003.
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