Canadian Secrets

Newly disclosed documents show Canada knew the United States secretly paid Pakistan $500,000 to capture Canadian Abdullah Khadr in what his lawyers said Monday was another notorious example of Washington’s outsourcing of torture.

The U.S., which is seeking to have Khadr, 27, extradited from Canada on charges he bought weapons for al-Qaeda and plotted to kill American troops in Afghanistan, opted to use Pakistan to do its dirty work, the lawyers said.

“All the mistreatment that Mr. Khadr experienced in Pakistan is the U.S. government’s responsibility,” Nate Whitling, one of Khadr’s lawyers, said in an interview from Edmonton.

“Now we know that they paid Pakistan to arrest him and they knew full well what would happen to him.”

At the request of the Americans, the Canadian government had sought to keep the information about the payment secret on the grounds that it would damage Canada’s interests.

However, it was released publicly under court orders Monday following the lapse of an appeal period by the Crown.   CBC