Suspects in Canadian soldiers' deaths handed to Afghans
Last Updated: Wednesday, November 25, 2009 | 10:52 PM AT
CBC News
Concerns about Canada's handling of Afghan detainees has also raised an entirely different question: What was done with captured Afghans suspected of killing or wounding Canadian soldiers?
Sgt. Robert Short and Cpl. Robbie Beerenfenger were the first Canadians killed by hostile Afghans when a landmine blew up their vehicle late in 2003.
Canadian intelligence knew who was behind the attack because various spy agencies backing up ally troops in Afghanistan had intercepted cellphone calls, CBC News has learned.
The suspects weren't Taliban, but rather Afghan fighters who worked for a warlord named Gulbiddin Hekmatyar, a former U.S. ally. Within hours, Canadian troops arrested two of them.
There was high-level discussion about bringing them to Canada to stand trial, but the intelligence agencies made it clear they would never divulge their methods in court, so that was ruled out.
The Canadians had no prisons and no trained military interrogators, so the two suspects were turned over to the Afghan authorities. Once that happened, the Canadians lost track of them.
Meanwhile, in Canada, the widows of the dead soldiers weren't told much.
"He gave his life for his country and he backed the military, and I am so disappointed that they have not been straightforward with me … I am so disappointed in my country," said Susan Short.
Tina Beerenfenger, said she never got a straight answer from the military either. Surrendering the prisoners to the Afghans, she said, was "disgusting, appalling and incomprehensible."
Intelligence sources told CBC News that Afghans with Canadian blood on their hands were turned over again and again because Canada felt it had no other choice.
Politically, they couldn't turn them over to the Americans and Canada was, after all, there to support the Afghan government.
Canada's former chief of defence staff, Rick Hillier has the numbers on how many Afghan suspects were turned over, sources told CBC News.
However, the Prime Minister's Office did not respond to a CBC News request for those numbers.
