[JURIST] Human rights groups and defense lawyers have criticized the refusal of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper [official profile] to interfere with US proceedings against Canadian Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr [DOD materials; JURIST news archive] in light of documents [text, PDF] released Thursday showing that the Canadian government knew Khadr had been mistreated [JURIST report]. Harper spoke Friday of the severity of the criminal charges against Khadr, and called the Guantanamo process necessary to discover the truth. Harper also stressed that the US has assured Canada that the treatment of Khadr is humane. Amnesty International Canada (AI) [advocacy website] said in an open letter [text, PDF] that the treatment revealed by the documents constitutes torture, and that Canadian inaction is indefensible and unjust:

It is shocking to learn that as far back as five years ago Canadian officials knew of the torture and ill-treatment Omar Khadr had experienced but did not intervene on his behalf. Instead at that time, much as today, the government had insisted that they had received assurances from US officials that Mr. Khadr was being well-treated, in a manner consistent with the spirit of the Geneva Conventions, and that there was therefore no reason for Canada to intervene. Today's revelations underscore how unreliable and hollow those assurances were.