Canada signs new deal to protect Afghan detainees

OTTAWA, May 3 (Reuters) Canada's government, in trouble over allegations it ignored evidence that Afghan police could be abusing detainees handed over by Canadian troops, signed a deal with Kabul today allowing it unfettered access to the prisoners.

Critics say Canadian soldiers could be guilty of war crimes because they transferred the detainees at a time when Ottawa was aware that Afghan authorities regularly tortured prisoners.

International conventions prohibit a country from handing over prisoners if there is reason to suspect possible abuse.

The Globe and Mail newspaper last week said it had spoken to 30 detainees who alleged they had been tortured. The government initially dismissed the report as a rumor but later, as criticism mounted, said it would press Kabul for answers.

Details of the new deal were announced in a Federal Court today during a case brought by human rights groups demanding the transfers be halted immediately.

The deal provides for ''full and unrestricted access'' by Canadian officials to anyone transferred to Afghan authorities. They can also interview prisoners in private.

The affair is the worst crisis faced by the minority Conservative government since its election in January 2006. Polls show the party has slipped to second place behind the opposition Liberals amid public unease over how the Afghan issue has been handled.

Government ministers publicly contradicted each other over what was being done about the prisoners while senior defense and foreign ministry officials sniped at each other in the press as to who was to blame.

Canada has 2,500 soldiers in the Kandahar region as part of the NATO-led force in Afghanistan.

Reuters RS DB2154