Canada and the World

        Current Events with a Canadian Perspective

 

Last update

19 November 2010

Site map

Omar Khadr in Guantanamo Bay

 

The Canadian government has repeatedly blocked all efforts to have a Canadian citizen returned home

but a guilty plea may change that

 

Omar Khadr is a Canadian citizen. At the age of 15, which by definition made him a child soldier, Mr. Khadr got caught up in a firefight in Afghanistan. He was in that war-torn country because his father, who had terrorist connections, had taken him there.

 

Captured by U.S. soldiers, he was accused of killing an American. He has been held under that charge in the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba prison since 2002.

 

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Canada was prominent in writing and ratifying, extends protection to child soldiers from prosecution for war crimes.

 

Canadian Officials Violated Khadr’s Rights

Held in solitary confinement and subjected to “enhanced interrogation” (left) by U.S. agents, Omar Khadr was said to be in a fragile mental state when Canadian officials visited him in prison.

 

Writing in The Globe and Mail, Bill Curry (August 2009) reported, “Canadian officials violated his Charter rights in 2003 and 2004 by interrogating him at Guantanamo while he was under duress, and then sharing that information with the Americans.”

 

This was the judgement on August 14, 2009 of the Federal Court of Appeals, which ordered Ottawa to seek the release of Khadr. This decision was upheld in an April 2009 ruling by Federal Court Judge James O’Reilly.

 

The Conservative government then asked the Supreme Court of Canada to overturn the decisions of the two lower courts. In January 2010, Canada’s highest court agreed with the government and overruled the lower court decisions - Canada, said the Supremes, was under no obligation to seek the repatriation of Omar Khadr.

 

However, Emily Chung of CBC News reported (January 2010) “the top court agreed Canadian officials violated Khadr's human rights, and that he continues to be threatened by the effect of those violations.”

 

Khadr’s Prison Conditions Described as Poor

The Globe and Mail article reports that “Mr. Khadr is now being held with other detainees. His Canadian lawyer, Dennis Edney, describes the area as a ‘cage’ in which his client is chained to the floor.”

 

According to Edney, Khadr has lost the sight in one eye and the vision in his other is deteriorating. Citing security concerns, prison guards won’t allow inmates at Guantanamo to have glasses.

 

Toronto Star writer Tonda McCharles commented (August 26, 2009) that “Even some Conservatives privately admit they have been taken aback by Harper’s utter indifference to pleas about Khadr’s plight.

 

“There’s no clear explanation for it. Is it good foreign policy? Good politics? Or simple ideological stubborness?”

 

Campaign for Khadr’s Release

Among the human rights groups that held demonstrations (below) and pressed for Omar Khadr’s release is the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children.

Its Chair is Kathy Vandergrift and she was quoted in Embassy magazine (July 2009) as saying her group has advocated that Omar Khadr be considered a child solider. “At senior levels, we don’t think we have a problem, we think the (foreign affairs) department understands, but at the political level there is a sense that children involved with terrorists groups are not child soldiers, and that’s simply not the case under international law.”

 

Meanwhile, the Toronto Star quotes Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff as saying (August 25, 2009), “We don’t minimize the seriousness of the crimes for (which) Khadr was accused. But he’s done, what is it, seven, eight years in Guantanamo in horrendous conditions, and we think it’s time he was brought home and re-integrated.”

 

Omar Khadr Goes on Trial

On August 9, 2010 Khadr faced his accusers in a pre-trial hearing under military court rules. In a military court the accused has few of the rights and protections available in the civilian system.

 

The burden of proof for the prosecution is lower and testimony can be given that would never be allowed in a civilian court. For example, evidence gathered during torture is admissible in a U.S. military court, and, under “enhanced interrogation” Khadr is said to have confessed to killing a U.S. soldier.

Khadr faced a difficult choice; take his chances with the military court, perhaps be found guilty of war crimes and receive a life sentence - meaning life - or try to strike a deal. He chose the latter course.

 

Al Jazeera News reported (October 25, 2010) that Khadr “pleaded guilty to killing an American soldier while he was a young teenager as part of a deal that will allow him to avoid a war crimes trial...

 

“Khadr, now 24, also admitted to planting improvised explosive devices and receiving weapons training from al-Qaeda. His defence lawyers say that because Khadr was a child when the offences occurred, he should not be tried for war-crimes.”

 

The deal seems to be that Khadr will spend about one more year in Guantanamo and then will be sent back to Canada to serve out the rest of his sentence.

 

Image credits

U.S. Government

Joshua Sherurcij

Publik15

 

 

Sources

“Canada’s Secret Documents on Khadr’s Treatment.” Bill Curry, Globe and Mail, August 26, 2009.

“Khadr Repatriation Overturned by Top Court, Emily Chung, CBC News, January 29, 2010.

“ ‘Gender Equality,’ ‘Child Soldiers,’ and ‘Humanitarian Law’ are Axed from Foreign Policy Language.” Michelle Collins, Embassy, July 29, 2009.

“Guantanamo Inmate Pleads Guilty.” Al Jazeera, October 25, 2010.

“Khadr Family Timeline.” National Post, October 26, 2010.

“Khadr Given Symbolic 40 Years, Andrew Mayeda, National Post, October 31, 2010.

“Verdict’s in: Khadr is Ottawa’s Problem now.” Paul Koring, Globe and Mail, November 1, 2010.

 

© Canada and the World, October 2010

November 2010

All rights reserved

 

Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children

 

 

About 170 of the original 600 plus detainees remain in Guantanamo despite U.S. President Barack Obama’s pledge to close down the institution.

 

A FAMILY HISTORY

 

In 1975, Egyptian-born Ahmed Said Khadr migrated to Canada to study computer science at the University of Ottawa.
 

By the mid-1980s, Ahmed Khadr had met and become an associate of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

 

In 1986, Omar Khadr was born in Scarborough, Ontario; the fifth of seven children.

 

In 2001, Omar was taken by his father to Afghanistan to train as a terrorist.

 

In July 2002, Omar and his father were surrounded by U.S. and Afghan troops in a compound and fire fight ensues. During the battle, Ahmed Khadr was killed and Omar severely wounded. Omar threw a grenade that killed an American medic.

 

National Post

 

 

 

 

 

Latest News

 

FORTY-YEAR

SENTENCE

 

A seven-member jury of military officers has given Omar Khadr a sentence of 40 years in prison.

 

The sentence, however, is largely symbolic, as a plea bargain by Khadr saw him acknowledge guilt in the killing of a U.S. soldier in return for an eight-year term.

 

The jury returned its verdict and recommended sentence on October 31, 2010 following eight hours of discussion.

 

The National Post reports (October 31, 2010) that “After announcing the jury’s recommended sentence, Col. Patrick Parrish, the presiding judge, told Khadr that after serving another year in U.S. custody, he could apply to be transferred to Canada.”

 

Khadr has been moved from the low-security area of Guantanamo where he has been held for years.

Paul Koring, in the The Globe and Mail, reports he “was taken after sentencing to Camp 5, a fortress-like copy of a U.S. maximum security prison where he will spend most all but a few hours a day in solitary for the next year. “