Lawyer: Khadr video to be released
TORONTO (AP) — A lawyer for a detainee at Guantanamo Bay said Thursday that he expects to release a video of his client being interrogated by Canadian officials.
Nathan Whitling’s announcement comes a day after Canada’s Federal Court ordered the government to hand over the 2003 interrogation video of terrorism suspect Omar Khadr to his defense team.
The prosecution has 10 days to appeal the order, said Whitling. If the appeal is denied, he said he would make the video public.
Whitling said its release could possibly be the first time an interrogation at the prison could be viewed by the public.
Khadr, the son of an alleged al-Qaida financier, is scheduled to face trial in October for allegedly lobbing a grenade that killed a U.S. Special Forces soldier following a 2002 firefight in Afghanistan when he was 15. He has maintained that any statements he made to U.S. officials were obtained under torture and are therefore inadmissible.
Whitling said though the video itself does not show Khadr being tortured, it does back up his client’s allegations.
“The tape shows him crying as he describes being tortured. It shows him showing Canadian officials physical evidence of his abuse and pleading for their help. It’s concrete evidence demonstrating the lack of credibility for the case against him,” said Whitling.
The Federal Court judge, Richard Mosley, also said efforts to prime Khadr for interrogation sessions with visiting Canadian agents, described in a 2004 document, broke human rights laws, including the Geneva Conventions. He did not disclose the technique.
Both the document and video should be made public because they are relevant to Khadr’s allegations of mistreatment, Mosley ruled.
Canada’s Department of Justice did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
The U.S. military says it plans to prosecute about 80 detainees at Guantanamo, where it holds roughly 270 men on suspicion of terrorism or links to al-Qaida or the Taliban. So far none of the cases have gone to trial.
June 27th, 2008 | Category: Canada, Evidence, Guantanamo, Omar Khadr
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July 12th, 2008 at 4:38 am
I pray for Omar Khadr everyday… how can people be so heartless towards a 15 year old boy… how can they have no sympathy … May God Bless Omar Khadr…
July 12th, 2008 at 4:40 am
I hate Canada’s pm harper for not helping khadr….. and i hate bush for everything hes done….. i just wish i could help all those in the mid east who are suffering and the innocent detainess at guantanomo..God bless them…
July 15th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Omar is only a month older than I am; it breaks my heart whenever I hear of his plight. The Bush administration should be tried at the Hague for their egregious abuse of process with these detainees. There are those of us in America who are ashamed of our government’s involvement in this human rights debacle. We will not ever forget this gross human injustice. God Bless, Omar, and the others at Guantanamo.