OTTAWA - Detainees captured by Canadians on the battlefield were concerned about being transferred to Afghan authorities, a retired captain said Thursday.

Capt. Mark Naipaul served as a military police platoon commander from February 2008 to the end of April 2008, and then worked mentoring Afghan police until September 2008.

Naipaul testified before the Military Police Complaints Commission that Afghan detainees in Canadian custody were apprehensive over transfers to the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS).

"Most detainees didn't want to leave the [Canadian] facility. They felt they were well treated at the facility and were concerned about where they would go, what they would be faced with once they left," Naipaul said.

Detainees liked the food and often were reluctant to be released from detention even to their families, he added.

"There were some concerns about being transferred to Afghan officials," Naipaul said, adding he could only speculate it was because of the NDS' reputation.

Naipaul said some detainees showed "emotional reaction" when they were told they were going to the NDS.

But the captain said he felt no trepidation about the treatment of detainees after their transfer.

Amongst themselves, Canadian military police officers in Kandahar did discuss allegations that had emerged in the media, but Naipaul said he was not aware of specific evidence that the NDS tortured detainees.

Nolan also said he was not aware of international human rights reports or accounts from Foreign Affairs officials who visited detainees in prison that criticized NDS' practices.

The military police had no monitoring role after detainees were transferred, Naipaul added.

He trusted that his chain of command was directing him to engage in lawful behaviour, he said.

Sgt. Steve Chamberland, an investigator with the military police's National Investigation Service charged with investigating serious allegations, said he had no authority to investigate "what Afghani do to other Afghani (sic).

"I [only] have jurisdiction to what Canadian soldiers do to other people regardless of their nation," he said.

Chamberland said he didn't believe there was cause for an investigation if Canadian Forces members failed to disclose abuse they witnessed by Afghan authorities towards another Afghan.

“I don’t think so, but I’m not a lawyer,” he said.

Chamberland said he “didn’t remember” receiving any training on international law and said the last time he received training about Canadian law and the Geneva Convention was 10 years ago.

Maj. Francois Bolduc, also with the NIS, was responsible for at least seven allegations concerning the treatment of detainees.

Bolduc testified investigators approached Lt-Col. Robert Brian Irwin, the commander in charge in 2007, to find out what directives had been given to soldiers on the ground.

Bolduc said it wasn't clear from Irwin what duty to intervene communicated to soldiers was. It was therefore difficult to charge anyone with negligence, he said.

He also described how investigators lacked the resources needed to investigate all the allegations and many cases were opened a year or two after the alleged incidents.

In one case, a witness refused to speak with investigators; in another, a dead body could not be identified as a former detainee.

Allegations investigated could not be substantiated so the files were closed, Bolduc said.

"There was no information that the commander transferred detainees knowing they faced the risk of torture," he said.

Amnesty International lawyer Paul Champ said a pattern was emerging from military police witnesses that abuse by other Afghans “has nothing to do to us and is not our concern.”

Champ said such abuse should have been reported because it could have informed senior officials that detainees faced the risk of torture.

The Military Police Complaints Commission is holding a public interest hearing into allegations military police officers should have done more to investigate Afghan detainees’ abuse.

Althia.Raj@sunmedia.ca