Washington, Oct 13(ANI): The human rights organisation, Amnesty International, has called on Canadian authorities to arrest former US President George W. Bush when he attends an economic summit in British Columbia next week.
Amnesty International has accused Bush of "responsibility for crimes under international law including torture," Politico reports.
It demanded that Canada either prosecute or extradite Bush for violations that they alleged took place during the Central Intelligence Agency's secret detention programme between 2002 and 2009.
The group wrote a 1,000 page memorandum addressed to Canadian authorities to make the case for human rights violations by the 43rd president.
"Canada is required by its international obligations to arrest and prosecute former President Bush given his responsibility for crimes under international law including torture," Susan Lee, Americas Director at Amnesty International, said in a statement.
However, the Canadian government responded to the request with critical words for Amnesty International.
"I cannot comment on individual cases... that said, Amnesty International cherry picks cases to publicize based on ideology. This kind of stunt helps explain why so many respected human rights advocates have abandoned Amnesty International," Canadian Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney told Politico.
He noted that Amnesty International had never sought a court order to bar Cuban dictator Fidel Castro or Tongolese dicator Gnassingbe Eyadema from Canada.
"Perhaps this helps to explain why Salman Rushie has said that 'it looks very much as if Amnesty's leadership is suffering from a kind of moral bankruptcy,' and why Christopher Hitchens has written about the organization's 'degeneration and politicization,'" Kenney added.
Bush had cancelled a visit to Switzerland in February after facing similar public calls for his arrest by the other human rights groups. (ANI)
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