A defiant military police watchdog agency has decided, despite the Canadian government's objections, to widen public hearings into the way Canadian soldiers handled detainees in Afghanistan.

The Military Police Complaints Commission will expand its hearings into allegations by Amnesty International and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Union that the Canadians handed detainees over to Afghan authorities, knowing they were likely to be tortured.

In the complaint filed in 2007, it was alleged that military police handed over prisoners on at least 18 occasions even though there was evidence of torture in Afghan jails.

The commission now will investigate more than those 18 alleged cases. It will go beyond the issue of whether the transfers of detainees were appropriate and also look at whether senior officers failed to investigate allegations of torture by Afghan authorities.

Word of a broader investigation comes in spite of a government lawsuit in Federal Court in Ottawa to quash an earlier commission decision to set up smaller-scale hearings.

Commission chairman Peter Tinsley decided to widen the scope of his investigation despite government claims that he lacks jurisdiction to do so.

In an 84-page ruling issued Tuesday, Tinsley rejected the arguments of federal lawyers and said he has a clear mandate to investigate.

"There is a significant level of public concern with respect to these allegations," he said in the ruling.

"This will permit the complaints commission to conduct a complete and thorough investigation with credible and comprehensive results that are ultimately fair to all interested parties."

Amnesty International welcomes decision

Tinsley said he's looking for "systemic" problems and will investigate the actions or failure to act of senior military officials, including the provost marshal — the military chief of police — and the head of the military's national investigative service.

Amnesty International said it was pleased by the decision.

"They're going to be looking at the responsibility of a number of very senior officials," said Amnesty spokesman Alex Neve.

"We obviously welcome the very simple fact that they've agreed that our complaints are legitimate and should go ahead."

Tinsley first announced a limited series of hearings last spring, saying he was forced to take that course because government departments, including Foreign Affairs, were stonewalling commission attempts to obtain pertinent documents.

The Canadian military has been handing captured fighters over to Afghan authorities since a battle group first arrived in Kandahar in early 2006.

There have been dozens of allegations of abuse, but the Conservative government insisted throughout most of last year that they were unproven claims or lies made up by propaganda-savvy members of the Taliban.

Amnesty fought in Federal Court in Ottawa to have the transfers outlawed but suffered a setback last April when a judge ruled that prisoners captured by Canadian troops in Afghanistan are not protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Judge Anne Mactavish said detainees do have rights under the Afghan constitution and international law — but not under Canadian law.

Amnesty has appealed that ruling.

No dates have been set for the expanded complaints commission hearings.