‘A lesson for us all:’ Trudeau comments on torture settlement
Posted October 26, 2017 1:51 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA, ON. (NEWS 1130) – The prime minister is defending a $31.3 million payout to three Canadian men who were wrongfully detained and tortured in Syria in the early to mid-2000s.
Justin Trudeau says when governments don’t stand up for Canadians’ rights, then compensation is required and he adds this payout is a lesson for all of us.
“Nobody, ever, deserves to be tortured,” says Trudeau. “I hope people take notice of this. I hope people are angered that governments violated Canadians’ fundamental rights.”
Trudeau adds the country needs to learn from these mistakes. “When we don’t stand for people’s rights, it ends up costing all of us. No future government should ever imagine that it’s a good idea or an acceptable idea to allow Canadians’ fundamental rights to be violated.”
The settlement with Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El Maati and Muayyed Nureddin was announced in March but the amount wasn’t revealed until recently released public accounts.
The three men were wrongfully detained and tortured in Syria on alleged links to Al-Qaeda and direct involvement from the RCMP and CSIS. None of the men were ever charged with any terrorism offences and had previously filed $100 million lawsuits of their own against Ottawa.
