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Afghan police guard a prison in Kabul in 2004. A new document obtained by CBC News suggests the government had a plot to deal with accusations that prisoners transferred by Canadians into Afghan custody were being tortured months before such allegations were made publicly. (Musadeq Sadeq/Associated Press)

The Canadian government started formulating a plot for how to deal with accusations of torture of prisoners in Afghanistan as early as March 2007 — months before such allegations first came up in the media — a document obtained by CBC News suggests.

A memorandum drafted by officials at the Department of Foreign Affairs says that if “NGOs, relatives, media or otherwise make credible allegations that detainees transferred by CF [Canadian Forces] to Afghan authorities have been potentially abused following their transfer,” officials must inform the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and the Red Cross.

They must also “follow up separately to address potential concerns with the conditions of detention,” the memo says.

First drafts of the document were written in March 2007, months before the Globe and Mail reported that 30 prisoners handed over to Afghan authorities by the Canadian military were “beaten, whipped, starved, frozen, choked and subjected to electric shocks during interrogations.”

The timing of the memorandum shows the government was concerned about the possibility that detainees were being abused while in Afghan custody long before such revelations became public.

More to come