During a hearing held behind closed doors, a public commission was told that military police had no idea what happened to Afghan prisoners after they were handed over to the local security service.
Military police officer Sgt. Carol Utton told the Military Police Complaints Commission on Tuesday that following up on Afghan prisoners handed over to Afghan authorities was not part of the job description.
Her testimony was transcribed and released on Wednesday because the hearings have been closed to government officials, journalists and members of the public until Thursday.
The commission is tasked with examining charges by Amnesty International Canada and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association that Canadian military officials failed to adequately monitor whether Afghan detainees could face torture after being transferred to local authorities.
Utton said military police heard "rumours" that prisoners were being tortured after they were handed over to Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security.
But those rumours may have originated with media reports, she said, and she saw no sings that Afghan prisoners were abused while they were held at Kandahar Airfield.
Some prisoners seemed to be happy when they were later turned over to Afghan police, she said.
"They could be bought out of the Afghan jails," Utton told the commission. "I believe that is a way of life in the Afghan system."
Paul Champ, a lawyer representing the two organizations that lodged the complaint, has been attending the closed sessions.
He did not oppose holding the sessions privately, he said, but he was also not convinced by the Justice Department's security concerns for closing them to the public.
"The actual security risk, frankly, I found a bit dubious. But their explanation of how it connected to excluding the journalists, at least on the surface made sense," he said on CTV's Power Play.
"We didn't object because the witnesses were minor and more significantly there was an agreement right then that the transcripts, in full, unedited, would be released to the public."
Champ added that the organizations he represents will not agree to another closed session, if the government asks for one.
"Obviously it's not the best way to proceed and it's not enhancing public confidence in the process," he said. "The last thing it needed (was) for the Department of Justice to come up with this tactic at the last minute."
NDP Foreign Affairs Critic Paul Dewar said the closed-door session fit with a pattern of secrecy by the Conservatives.
"It's fairly strange, and it seems to be a pattern we see here on this issue and with this government. They don't want people to see what's going on -- literally here -- or find out what's going on," he said. "It seems to be a control issue."
When asked to comment on the decision, Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro, said that he "has faith" in military officials who have previously testified before the commission.
Under international law, transferring prisoners to countries where they risk torture is a war crime.
In November, Diplomat Richard Colvin testified before a House of Commons committee that most prisoners Canada handed over to Afghan intelligence were later tortured. The Tories and military commanders have denied that charge.
In the weeks ahead, the commission is expected to hear from 25 people in the Canadian Forces and the departments of Defence and Foreign Affairs.
With files from The Canadian Press
