Last week Omar Khadr’s military lawyer petitioned the US Supreme Court to delay his trial, until the legality of the Military Commissions could be determined. That petition was unsuccessful. Accordingly, Mr. Khadr’s trial before the Military Commissions will go ahead.
At a pre-trial hearing August 9th, 2010, the Military Judge ruled that Mr. Khadr’s ‘confessions’ — taken after his arrest when he was badly injured, chained, at times hooded, and subjected to sleep deprivation and apparent threats of serious harm — are admissible. Mr. Khadr himself, who was 15 years old at the time, has stated that he told the interrogators whatever they wanted to hear so they would not further mistreat him.
CCLA argues that Canada should call for Omar Khadr’s repatriation. The trial of a child soldier in these circumstances violates the First International Protocol of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Canada and the US have ratified. International law recognizes that children act either without full awareness or independence in armed conflict, and are often forcibly conscripted into hostilities, therefore requiring special protections which Omar Khadr did not receive. Child soldiers must be rehabilitated, not punished. Further, the lower evidentiary standards of the Military Commissions admitting evidence obtained by torture or improper treatment, contravenes international standards. The Supreme Court of Canada in January 2010 ruled that Omar Khadr’s Charter rights were breached when Canadian officials interrogated him at Guantanamo Bay knowing he was a child, knowing he was subjected to ‘improper treatment’, and passed on this information to US officials. Because that information may be used to keep Mr. Khadr in Guantanamo Bay and may form part of the case against him, the Supreme Court of Canada noted that the effects of the Charter breach continue to this day, and ordered Canada to provide Mr. Khadr with a remedy for the breach of his rights. CCLA believes Canada must protect Mr. Khadr. He is the last westerner remaining at Guantanamo Bay, as all other western countries have repatriated their citizens.
