Canadian Held at Guantánamo Bay Is Repatriated - New York Times
OTTAWA — Omar Khadr, the only Canadian citizen held at the Guantánamo Bay detention center in Cuba, was returned to Canada early Saturday morning, the Pentagon and the Canadian government announced.
Unlike other Western countries that brought their detainees home from the prison at the naval base, the Conservative government in Canada had vigorously resisted calls and a court order to bring back Mr. Khadr, who was 15 years old in 2002 when he was captured by American forces in Afghanistan.
Vic Toews, the public safety minister, offered no explanation on Saturday for the government’s change of mind.
“Omar Khadr is a known supporter of the Al Qaeda terrorist network and a convicted terrorist,” Mr. Toews said, reading from a statement. “I am satisfied the Correctional Service of Canada can administer Omar Khadr’s sentence in a manner which recognizes the serious nature of the crimes that he has committed and ensure the safety of Canadians is protected during incarceration.”
Mr. Khadr pleaded guilty before a military commission in October 2010 to the killing of an American sergeant, Christopher Speer, in a battle in 2002 that also left Mr. Khadr wounded. American military prosecutors agreed to an eight-year sentence with no credit for the time Mr. Khadr had already served at Guantánamo Bay. Under a plea agreement he was to have served the first year of the sentence in American custody before being returned to Canada to serve the balance of the sentence.
“The United States government has returned Khadr to Canada, where he will serve out his remaining sentence,” the Department of Defense said in a statement issued in Washington. “The United States coordinated with the government of Canada regarding appropriate security and humane treatment measures.”
Mr. Khadr was flown to a Royal Canadian Air Force base in Trenton, Ontario, and immediately moved to the Millhaven Institution, a maximum-security prison southwest of Ottawa in Bath, Ontario.
Under Canadian law, he will be eligible to apply for parole next year.
Because Mr. Khadr was a juvenile at the time of his arrest, several human rights groups in Canada were particularly troubled by his treatment as an adult by the American military justice system. Those concerns were shared by the Supreme Court of Canada, which ruled in 2010 that Canadian agents had violated Mr. Khadr’s rights by interrogating him at Guantánamo Bay.
“Interrogation of a youth, to elicit statements about the most serious criminal charges while detained in these conditions and without access to counsel, and while knowing that the fruits of the interrogations would be shared with the U.S. prosecutors, offends the most basic Canadian standards about the treatment of detained youth suspects,” the court said in its decision.
At that time, however, the Supreme Court overturned a Federal Court of Canada ruling ordering the government to repatriate Mr. Khadr. It found that it was not within its powers to tell the Canadian government how to conduct its relations with other countries. It did, however, tell the government to find a way to ensure that its conduct of foreign affairs complied with Canada’s charter of rights and freedoms.
Hilary Homes, a security and human rights campaigner for Amnesty International Canada, said that Mr. Khadr’s return was not the end of his case.
“The book is not closed,” said Ms. Homes, who is based in Ottawa.
While she said that her organization was still concerned about Mr. Khadr’s treatment, particularly his young offender status, it would not push for his immediate release.
“At this point we don’t have a choice but to let the process play out,” she said.
Baher Azmy, the legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, said the transfer “ends one of the ugliest chapters in the decade-long history of Guantánamo.” He called on Canada to release Mr. Khadr.
“Canada should not perpetuate the abuse he endured in one of the world’s most notorious prisons,” he said. “Instead, Canada should release him immediately and provide him with appropriate counseling, education and assistance in transitioning to a normal life.”
Mr. Khadr was originally slated to be the first detainee to stand trial in the revamped military commission system under the Obama administration, alarming officials with the prospect that the first case would be the prosecution of a former child soldier.
He admitted to a military judge that he threw a grenade that killed Sergeant Speer during a firefight and that he had planted 10 roadside bombs for Al Qaeda. The admission avoided a trial. He was convicted of murder and attempted murder in violation of the law of war, support of terrorism and spying.
The Obama administration notified Congress of its intention to repatriate Mr. Khadr in April. But his transfer was delayed, with officials attributing it to bureaucratic issues on both sides of the border.
Mr. Khadr was born in Toronto but spent much of his youth in Pakistan and Afghanistan. His father, Ahmed Said Khadr, an Egyptian-born Canadian, was killed in Afghanistan about a year after his son’s capture.
Omar Khadr’s mother, Maha, and his sister Zaynab live in Canada and have been outspoken in their support of radical Islamic movements. One of Mr. Khadr’s brothers was paralyzed in the battle near the border with Pakistan that killed their father and another was recently released from jail after successfully fighting extradition to the United States.
OTTAWA — Omar Khadr, the only Canadian citizen held at the Guantánamo Bay detention center in Cuba, was returned to Canada early Saturday morning, the Pentagon and the Canadian government announced.
Unlike other Western countries that brought their detainees home from the prison at the naval base, the Conservative government in Canada had vigorously resisted calls and a court order to bring back Mr. Khadr, who was 15 years old in 2002 when he was captured by American forces in Afghanistan.
Vic Toews, the public safety minister, offered no explanation on Saturday for the government’s change of mind.
“Omar Khadr is a known supporter of the Al Qaeda terrorist network and a convicted terrorist,” Mr. Toews said, reading from a statement. “I am satisfied the Correctional Service of Canada can administer Omar Khadr’s sentence in a manner which recognizes the serious nature of the crimes that he has committed and ensure the safety of Canadians is protected during incarceration.”
Mr. Khadr pleaded guilty before a military commission in October 2010 to the killing of an American sergeant, Christopher Speer, in a battle in 2002 that also left Mr. Khadr wounded. American military prosecutors agreed to an eight-year sentence with no credit for the time Mr. Khadr had already served at Guantánamo Bay. Under a plea agreement he was to have served the first year of the sentence in American custody before being returned to Canada to serve the balance of the sentence.
“The United States government has returned Khadr to Canada, where he will serve out his remaining sentence,” the Department of Defense said in a statement issued in Washington. “The United States coordinated with the government of Canada regarding appropriate security and humane treatment measures.”
Mr. Khadr was flown to a Royal Canadian Air Force base in Trenton, Ontario, and immediately moved to the Millhaven Institution, a maximum-security prison southwest of Ottawa in Bath, Ontario.
Under Canadian law, he will be eligible to apply for parole next year.
Because Mr. Khadr was a juvenile at the time of his arrest, several human rights groups in Canada were particularly troubled by his treatment as an adult by the American military justice system. Those concerns were shared by the Supreme Court of Canada, which ruled in 2010 that Canadian agents had violated Mr. Khadr’s rights by interrogating him at Guantánamo Bay.
“Interrogation of a youth, to elicit statements about the most serious criminal charges while detained in these conditions and without access to counsel, and while knowing that the fruits of the interrogations would be shared with the U.S. prosecutors, offends the most basic Canadian standards about the treatment of detained youth suspects,” the court said in its decision.
At that time, however, the Supreme Court overturned a Federal Court of Canada ruling ordering the government to repatriate Mr. Khadr. It found that it was not within its powers to tell the Canadian government how to conduct its relations with other countries. It did, however, tell the government to find a way to ensure that its conduct of foreign affairs complied with Canada’s charter of rights and freedoms.
Hilary Homes, a security and human rights campaigner for Amnesty International Canada, said that Mr. Khadr’s return was not the end of his case.
“The book is not closed,” said Ms. Homes, who is based in Ottawa.
While she said that her organization was still concerned about Mr. Khadr’s treatment, particularly his young offender status, it would not push for his immediate release.
“At this point we don’t have a choice but to let the process play out,” she said.
Baher Azmy, the legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, said the transfer “ends one of the ugliest chapters in the decade-long history of Guantánamo.” He called on Canada to release Mr. Khadr.
“Canada should not perpetuate the abuse he endured in one of the world’s most notorious prisons,” he said. “Instead, Canada should release him immediately and provide him with appropriate counseling, education and assistance in transitioning to a normal life.”
Mr. Khadr was originally slated to be the first detainee to stand trial in the revamped military commission system under the Obama administration, alarming officials with the prospect that the first case would be the prosecution of a former child soldier.
He admitted to a military judge that he threw a grenade that killed Sergeant Speer during a firefight and that he had planted 10 roadside bombs for Al Qaeda. The admission avoided a trial. He was convicted of murder and attempted murder in violation of the law of war, support of terrorism and spying.
The Obama administration notified Congress of its intention to repatriate Mr. Khadr in April. But his transfer was delayed, with officials attributing it to bureaucratic issues on both sides of the border.
Mr. Khadr was born in Toronto but spent much of his youth in Pakistan and Afghanistan. His father, Ahmed Said Khadr, an Egyptian-born Canadian, was killed in Afghanistan about a year after his son’s capture.
Omar Khadr’s mother, Maha, and his sister Zaynab live in Canada and have been outspoken in their support of radical Islamic movements. One of Mr. Khadr’s brothers was paralyzed in the battle near the border with Pakistan that killed their father and another was recently released from jail after successfully fighting extradition to the United States.