Well Done, Vancouver - Cheney Book Tour

After Vancouver, Cheney traveled to Calgary, where he no doubt got a warmer welcome.



Here's a website comment:

Under the Convention Against Torture, which Canada ratified in 1987, there is universal jurisdiction in cases of torture, and a obligation on countries that have ratified the Convention to prosecute offenders, as I pointed out to the PM in this edited text of a message sent this morning.

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To: Prime Minister S. Harper
Re: No Safe Haven in Canada for Torturers; Arrest the Self-Confessed Torturer Dick Cheney

Mr. Harper,

Canada has apparently become a safe haven for torturers like disgraced former U.S. Vice-President Richard Cheney, whom you failed to arrest when he was on Canadian soil Monday and Tuesday this week.

Canada ratified the Convention against Torture in 1987, and its provisions were incorporated into the Canadian criminal code. Arrest and prosecution of torturers is the law of the land. It is not an option for political leaders like you to simply disregard Canadian and international laws that you find it inconvenient to enforce.

The law is the law, and Cheney is a torturer by his own admission. He must be arrested and prosecuted at the earliest opportunity. He could and should have been arrested on arrival in Vancouver on September 26 or in Calgary the following day, but you allowed this vile criminal to get away.

What makes this dereliction of duty by your PMO and Justice Ministry particularly egregious is that you have allowed a man to escape Canadian justice this week who is perhaps more than anyone else responsible for transforming his once-law-abiding nation into a failed state that tortures, violates international law and spies on its own citizens.

I support the executive director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, when he says, “Canada should make clear that torture is a crime, not a policy option. The best way to do that is to show that Canada is not a safe haven for torturers.”

You and your government must be seen to act effectively and in accordance with your responsibilities under the Convention against Torture or you risk becoming a criminal yourself, Mr. Harper, for aiding and abetting these heinous crimes against humanity. You will not control the Justice Department forever, you might wish to remember.

Yours, Des McMurchy, Sointula, BC