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Aug

Khadr lawyers sue Canada PM seeking to compel release demand

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Categories: Canada and Omar Khadr

Abigail Salisbury

[JURIST] Canadian Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr [DOD materials; JURIST news archive] has filed suit [Globe and Mail report; Federal Court of Canada docket] against Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper [official profile] in an effort to compel Harper to demand his release. Following last month’s discovery of documents [text, PDF] showing that the Canadian government knew Khadr had been mistreated [JURIST report], Harper has come under heavy criticism [JURIST report] for refusing to interfere with US proceedings against Khadr. Harper has stated his belief that the Guantanamo process is necessary to discover the truth.

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Aug

Canada Liberal urges repatriation of Guantanamo detainee

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Categories: Canada, Detainee, Guantanamo and Kangaroo Kourt

OTTAWA (AFP) — Canada’s opposition leader on Wednesday urged the prime minister to try to repatriate the last Western detainee at the US “war on terror” camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, calling his jailing “illegal.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper must “do everything in his power to repatriate Canadian Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr to Canada where his rights as a Canadian citizen will be respected,” Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said in a statement.

Khadr has been held at the US naval facility since his arrest in 2002, when he was 15 years old, and faces a US military trial for alleged war crimes in October.

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Jul

Protesters want Gitmo detainee’s release

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Categories: Canada, Detainee, Guantanamo, Minor and Omar Khadr

TORONTO, (UPI) — Nearly 300 protesters in Canada say they want a Toronto-born man released from the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba.

Detainee Omar Khadr’s mother, Maha Elsamnah, said it was heartwarming to see hundreds of people calling for her son’s release from the U.S. detention center during Saturday’s protest in Toronto, The Toronto Star reported Sunday.

“It is touching to have all these people here who do not even know Omar,” Elsamnah said.

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Jul

Army deserters fight for a haven in Canada

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Categories: Canada and Matthis Chiroux

Once a sanctuary, nation is grappling with its stance on war

by patrick arden / metro new york

Canada was a safe haven for 60,000 U.S. military draft dodgers and deserters during the Vietnam War.

But now Canada is having a crisis of conscience when it comes to an estimated 700 American soldiers there seeking to avoid a return to Iraq.

While 64 percent of Canadians believe the defectors should be allowed to stay, the Conservative government has backed deportation.

At one of 14 rallies held in U.S. cities yesterday, anti-war demonstrators lined up in front of the Canadian Consulate here to protest the planned deportation of Corey Glass, a 25-year-old National Guard sergeant who served in Iraq before deserting while on leave in 2006. Hours later, Glass won a reprieve from a court deciding whether to hear his case.

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Jun

Lawyer: Khadr video to be released

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Categories: Canada, Evidence, Guantanamo and Omar Khadr

By CHARMAINE NORONHA

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.

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Jun

Defence accuses prosecutors of exaggerating extent of British bomb plot

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Categories: Canada

Defence accuses prosecutors of exaggerating extent of British bomb plot

CBC News

Momin Khawaja, centre, is shown in an Ottawa courtroom on Monday in this sketch. Khawaja’s lawyer says Crown prosecutors are trying to exaggerate the extent of the alleged bomb plot that sparked terrorism charges against his client. (Tammy Hoy/Canadian Press)Mohammad Momin Khawaja attended a terrorist training camp with the ringleader of a plot to bomb several locations in Britain, the prosecution’s star witness testified on Tuesday.

Mohammed Babar testified in the Ontario Superior Court that he met Khawaja, 29, in 2003 on his way to a training camp in northern Pakistan.

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Jun

Afghanistan: Killing fields

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Categories: Afghanistan, Canada, Death in Custody, Detainee Abuse and Taliban

by Eric Walberg

The Taliban’s Tet has begun. Interpret Laura Bushs’s clarion call “to stand by Afghanistan” as you will, says Eric Walberg

Two landmarks in Afghanistan last week — British troop deaths surpassed 100, and monthly official coalition deaths now outnumber official coalition deaths in Iraq. Pentagon officials said that in May, 16 coalition troops were killed in Iraq, 14 of them American, while 18 coalition troops were killed in Afghanistan, 13 of them American.

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Jun

US guards say Canadian Guantanamo detainee a ‘good kid’

By Dazeylin 0 Comments

I’m speechless. Simply without words to express the horror I feel as I read this article. No sight in one eye, the other is going, He grew up in a 6×8 cell alone. He’d just lost his father before he was taken… what do they expect him to do or say? His health is terrible and clearly they did not get the medical help he needed to save his one eye that he could actually see out of!

OTTAWA (AFP) — Canadian Omar Khadr, the youngest detainee held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is a “good kid” and “salvageable,” according to his captors, cited in Canadian government files published Tuesday.

Khadr was 15 years old when he was arrested by the US army in Afghanistan in 2002 on suspicion of links to Al-Qaeda and of killing a US soldier.

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Jun

Huseyin Celil’s Letter Home

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Categories: Canada and Detainee

Globe and Mail Update

Best Greetings of God over you

From Huseyin Celil

My Lovely, gracious mother, how are you doing?

I caused you tremendous suffer and pain. You spent whole of your life with my suffer. As a your child I only beg your pardon and pray for me.

I missed you very very much. If they allow, if your financial situation permits, I would be feel like myself in heaven with your one more visit along with my two children. Last time I was blessed seeing my sister when she visited me.

I missed my mother and two son from the bottom of my heart. I really want to see them one more time. I wrote twice to you but received no reply so far. Maybe you did not get my letters or the letter you send did not reach me.

I can figure out the reason. How about my all relatives? Are they fine?

How about my son Abdusemi, Abdugheni and Esma?

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May

Vancouver MP Dawn Black introduces bill to outlaw torture

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Categories: Abuse, Bagram, Canada, Detainee Abuse and Torture

Hey at least these guys have the class to cop to it and do something about it - unlike the good ol’ US of A…

By Travis Lupick

Today (May 27) in the House of Commons, NDP defence critic Dawn Black (New Westminster-Coquitlam) introduced a bill to outlaw torture.

If approved by a majority in the House, Black’s bill would make it a criminal offence to transfer prisoners to authorities when the detainees face a risk of torture. The bill would also make it illegal for Canadian authorities to use information obtained during torture, according to an NDP media release.

Speaking from Ottawa shortly after introducing the bill, Black told the Straight that she saw no reason why Canada’s other opposition parties would not support the legislation.

Black said that the bill was drafted with the help of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, and inspired by the Afghan-detainee scandal.

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May

Tory continues to attack Dallaire over Khadr

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Categories: Canada, Detainee and Guantanamo

michelle shephard national security reporter

Canada’s parliamentarians say the country’s international reputation is taking a beating over the case of Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr.

They just don’t agree on the cause.

Conservative MP Jason Kenney continued to lash out at Liberal Senator Romeo Dallaire today, demanding an apology for his statement that likened the handling of the Khadr case by the U. S. and Canada to the actions of terrorists.
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Apr

Ex-detainee worried about Khadr

By Dazeylin 0 Comments

Categories: "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques", Afghanistan, Bagram, Canada, Detainee, Detainee Abuse, Detainee Treatment Act, Extended Solitary Confinement, Guantanamo, Military Commission, Military Tribunal, Minor, Torture, USA, Withholding Medical Treatment, human rights and war crimes

Said Canadian told him about his interrogations and health problems, and being denied medication

Michelle Shephard National Security Reporter

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba–A former detainee who befriended Omar Khadr while imprisoned here says he is concerned about the Canadian’s mental and physical health.

Murat Kurnaz, a Turkish citizen born and raised in Germany, said he watched Khadr develop from a teenager to a man during his five years in custody. “I knew him very well,” Kurnaz said yesterday by telephone from Germany, where he has lived since his release in August 2006. “He was very famous because he was very young.”

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Apr

My brother’s three months in solitary

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Categories: Canada and Extended Solitary Confinement

In the end, his charges were stayed. ‘The authorities ruined my brother’s future, his reputation and abused him physically and psychologically – all for, according to them, absolutely no reason’

A time comes when silence is betrayal. We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for victims of our nation and for those it calls enemy, for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers and sisters. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

It’s been nearly two years since the raid on our house, since the day they took my brother and another relative. Since that day, my family and I have lived in silence. It’s an emotional topic for me and talking about it means reliving that pain all over again. But I feel obliged to let Canadians know about our experience and what we continue to experience each and every single day.

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Apr

Guantanamo prosecutor quits, cites interference

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Categories: "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques", Canada, Children, Detainee, Detainee Abuse, Detainee Treatment Act, Family, Guantanamo, High Profile, Military Commission, Military Tribunal and Minor

Colonel’s decision to resign won’t affect terrorism case against Canadian Omar Khadr, Pentagon says
Michelle Shephard

Staff Reporter
The blunt-speaking prosecutor who once called Omar Khadr a “terrorist” has resigned.

U.S. Air Force Col. Morris Davis’s decision to quit will not affect the case of Canadian Khadr, the Pentagon said.

But the loss of one of the most vocal supporters of Guantanamo’s war crimes trials is viewed as another embarrassing setback for the Bush administration.

Davis stepped down as Guantanamo’s chief prosecutor Thursday evening, alleging a legal adviser to the administrator overseeing the cases was interfering in his work.

Davis could not comment yesterday due to an order issued by his superiors, media reports said.

Davis was known for his often-flamboyant quotes. He once called Khadr a “terrorist” and described the media’s sympathetic coverage of his case as “nauseating.

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Mar

Bring Omar Khadr home

By Dazeylin 0 Comments

Categories: Canada, Detainee, Extended Solitary Confinement, Family, Guantanamo, High Profile, Military Commission, Military Tribunal, Minor, Torture and Withholding Medical Treatment

Omar Khadr is a Canadian citizen who was a 15-year-old child soldier when he allegedly killed a U. S. serviceman during a firefight in Afghanistan. The debate about his return to Canada must begin and end there. That the current and past Canadian governments have failed to secure his release and repatriation is a glaring instance of hypocrisy by this country that prides itself on its advocacy of human rights and adherence to international law.

Child soldiers who are Canadian citizens belong in Canada for due judicial processing and, more importantly, for rehabilitation after having been reared and coerced into extremism and violence.

All other details about Omar Khadr’s activities in Afghanistan and the aftermath of his capture by U. S. forces only strengthen the argument for his return. The 15- year-old Omar was in a compound during a U. S. attack and was shot twice in the chest during the raid. After his capture, he was transferred to the U. S.’s infamous Bagram detention facility where he was processed as an adult combatant and very likely mistreated and tortured.

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Mar

Failed Terror Trials Raise New Questions

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Categories: Canada, Detainee, Detainee Abuse, Guantanamo, Military Commission and Military Tribunal

by ANNE FLAHERTY

The Associated Press

Salim Ahmed Hamdan is seen in this
undated file photo provided by
Prof. Neal Katyal. Military judges
dismissed charges Monday June 4, 2007
against Hamdan, a Guantanamo detainee
accused of chauffeuring Osama bin Laden,
throwing up roadblocks to the
Bush administration’s attempt to try
terror suspects in military courts.
(AP Photo/photo courtesy of Prof. Neal Katyal)

Failed attempts to charge two terror suspects left the Pentagon scrambling Tuesday to determine a next step and emboldened Democrats who said the rulings exposed a flawed court system.

Military judges ruled Monday that the Pentagon could not prosecute Salim Ahmed Hamdan and Omar Khadr because they had not first been identified as “unlawful” enemy combatants, as required by a law passed last year by Congress.

Hamdan, of Yemen, is believed to have been chauffeur to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. Khadr is a Canadian who was arrested at 15 on an Afghan battlefield, accused of killing a U. S. soldier.

The decision dealt a blow to the Bush administration in its efforts to begin prosecuting dozens of detainees regarded as the nation’s most dangerous terrorist suspects.

U. S. officials chalked up the ruling to semantics and said they were considering their options.

“We certainly disagree with the ruling,” said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino on Tuesday. The Defense Department “is looking at the opportunities for appeal, and what they would say.”

Lawmakers and legal experts agreed the decision was not necessarily a showstopper for the trials, and that new legislation might not be necessary to convict Hamdan and Khadr. Democratic critics, however, said the ruling proved the current law was shabbily written.

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Mar

Lawyers contend US, Canada violated rights of Guantanamo detainee, seek interrogation details

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Categories: "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques", Bagram, Canada, Detainee, Guantanamo, Military Commission, Military Tribunal, Minor, Torture and Withholding Medical Treatment

Lawyers contend US, Canada violated rights of Guantanamo detainee, seek interrogation details

The Associated Press Thursday, March 27, 2008

OTTAWA: The United States has violated international laws by holding a Canadian former child soldier at Guantanamo Bay, his lawyers told Canada’s high court as they sought to force the country’s intelligence service to provide details from their interviews with him.

Omar Khadr’s attorneys argued Wednesday that Canadian intelligence officers violated Canada’s bill of rights by questioning him in 2003 and 2004 at the U. S. military base, where some 275 men are held for their alleged links to al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Khadr’s attorneys asked the Canadian Supreme Court to order Canada’s government to release details about the interrogations so the material can be used in Khadr’s war-crimes trial at Guantanamo, which is expected to begin this summer.

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Mar

AN UNHAPPY ANNIVERSARY

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Categories: Canada and Iraq

By Josh Ginsburg

It is the grimmest of anniversary celebrations: Five years ago today, US bombs turned the skies over Baghdad black, heralding a long war that turned out to be far costlier and deadlier than its planners anticipated. Despite the long struggle, it is unclear that the world is a better place for all the violence, and those that have been covering the war from the start still report that there is no end in sight. Still, the US president is sticking to his guns, bombs, and tanks, saying to a friendly military audience yesterday that stopping the fight now would only embolden terrorists in Iraq. Of course, as commentators have pointed out ad nauseam, terrorists in Iraq only got wind in their sails once US bombs started falling, a point which the Democratic candidates for president didn’t fail to pick up on in their renewed calls for a troop pullout. The Post, historically a supporter of the war, brings in Christopher Hitchens on the front page (but not online) to make the case for optimism about the future. He argues that the war was less the result of worries about non-existent weapons of mass destruction than the necessary culmination of a decades-long struggle with Iraq. An editorial in the paper also tells us to look on the bright side, citing the cheery statistic that “Iraqi civilian deaths are down … from nearly 4,000 a month to under 500.” Those numbers still make the country one of the most dangerous in the world.

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Mar

Military lawyer for Guantanamo detainee: evidence suggests US soldiers committed war crimes

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Categories: "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques", Afghanistan, Canada, Detainee, Guantanamo, Lies of the U.S. Administration, Minor and Torture

The Associated Press

Thursday, March 20, 2008

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico: The military lawyer for an alleged al-Qaida fighter at Guantanamo Bay said Thursday that accounts of the firefight in which he was captured indicate some U.S. soldiers ? and not his client ? should be charged for war crimes.

During the final moments of a July 2002 raid on an al-Qaida compound in Afghanistan, an American soldier killed one combatant who lay moaning with a rifle at his side, and nearly executed 15-year-old Omar Khadr after shooting him twice in the back, according to eyewitness accounts revealed at Khadr’s pretrial hearings.

Medics treated Khadr’s wounds and he was later flown to the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where 275 men are held, most suspected of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.

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