Khadr aches for `chance in life’
Staff Reporter
NB: Omar Khadr was born in Toronto and is a Canadian citizen, he is not a naturalized citizen as stated in this article.
Longing for a normal life and a chance to return to the country where his “soul” is “connected,” a letter by Omar Khadr to Canadian media offers a rare glimpse into the mind of the 21-year-old suspected terrorist who has been imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay for the past six years.
The handwritten letter was in response to six questions submitted by the CBC, asking the naturalized citizen about his memories of Canada, his aspirations, what he wants to tell Canadians, and what he would do to distance himself from his past.
The CBC avoided asking about his legal case because of the reluctance of the U.S military to allow details of the investigation outside of court.
All questions had to be pre-approved by U.S. military censors beforehand and Khadr’s answers were also scrutinized by the military before being sent to the CBC.
The American military has allowed the young detainee to send letters to his friends and family in the past, but this appears to be the first time he has directly reached out to the Canadian public.
The answers arrived in an envelope from “Camp Delta” to the office of Khadr’s Edmonton lawyer Dennis Edney. The camp at Guantanamo Bay is one of the military prisons on the U.S. naval base in southeastern Cuba, and is considered to be one of the least restrictive for detainees.
The letter was the first time Khadr has directly communicated with the media, as previous insights into the life and mind of Khadr have been gleaned mostly through his lawyers and letters written to his family members.
In previous letters he wrote from Guantanamo to his grandparents, who live in Scarborough, sent in 2003 after his arrest, he asked them to pray for him. “I pray for you very much,” he wrote in one letter, “Don’t forgat me from your pray’rs.”
Khadr, the only Western detainee to remain at Guantanamo, was born in Toronto, and his most recent letter reaffirmed the connection he feels to the “place where he was born.”
Khadr is accused of killing an American soldier during a firefight in Afghanistan in 2002, when he was 15.
His trial is expected to begin in October.
June 25th, 2008 | Category: "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques", Abuse, Afghanistan, Detainee Abuse, Guantanamo, Minor, Omar Khadr, Torture, human rights
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