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Judges refuse to release detainee documents

Documents related to what the Harper government may have known about possible torture of prisoners in Afghan jails will not be released until after the May 2 federal election.

OTTAWA — Documents related to what the Harper government may have known about possible torture of prisoners in Afghan jails will not be released until after the May 2 federal election.

The judges overseeing the handling of documents say it wouldn’t be appropriate to release a report on their findings because Parliament has been dissolved.

They were working with an ad-hoc committee of MPs to whom they were supposed to report on April 15, but those members are now busy campaigning for re-election.

“There is no longer a committee ... to which the panel can provide its report and the results of its work, and no documents can be tabled in the house,” said a copy of a letter obtained Thursday by The Canadian Press.

The letter, signed by justices Frank Iacobucci and Claire L’Heureux-Dube, was sent to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe.

Jack Layton was excluded because the NDP pulled out of the committee.