CANADA:Canada's foreign ministry, responding to pressure from close allies, has said it would remove the United States and Israel from a watch list of countries where prisoners risk being tortured.
Both nations expressed unhappiness after it emerged they had been listed in a document that formed part of a training course manual on torture awareness given to Canadian diplomats.
Foreign minister Maxime Bernier said he regretted the embarrassment caused by the public disclosure of the manual, which also classified some US interrogation techniques as torture. "It contains a list that wrongly includes some of our closest allies. I have directed that the manual be reviewed and rewritten," Mr Bernier said.
"The manual is neither a policy document nor a statement of policy. As such, it does not convey the government's views or positions."
The document embarrassed the minority Conservative government, which is a staunch ally of both the USand Israel. US ambassador David Wilkins said the listing was absurd, while the Israeli envoy said he wanted his country removed.
Asked why the two countries had been put on the list, a spokesman for Mr Bernier said: "The training manual purposely raised public issues to stimulate discussion and debate in the classroom."
The government mistakenly gave the document to Amnesty International as part of a court case the organisation has launched against Ottawa over the treatment of detainees in Afghanistan.
Amnesty International Canada, which says it has ample evidence that prisoners are abused both in US and Israeli jails, said it was disappointed by Mr Bernier's announcement.
"When it comes to an issue like torture, the government's main concern should not be embarrassing allies," said its secretary general, Alex Neve. The US embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Under "definition of torture", the document lists US interrogation techniques such as forced nudity, isolation, sleep deprivation and blindfolding prisoners. It also mentions the US detention centre at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, where a Canadian man is being held. Omar Khadr has been in Guantánamo for five years. He is accused of killing a US soldier during a clash in Afghanistan in 2002, when he was 15.
Other countries on the watch list include Syria, China, Iran, Afghanistan, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.