Omar Khadr, detained as a 15-year-old by the U.S. military, was handed a 40-year sentence on October 25th after a lengthy and highly controversial trial. The trial, lasting five years, ended with Khadr pleading guilty to terrorism-related charges in a plea bargain that would make him eligible for transfer back to his home country, Canada, in one year.
Khadr was convicted of throwing the grenade that killed Sgt. Christopher Speer in 2002. Since then, he has been held at Guantanamo Bay Prison where he claimed that he was “tortured” to the point of confession, and was sometimes “hung by the wrists” and “shackled to the floor.” Khadr has spent one third of his 24-year-long life behind bars. His situation is unique, in that he is the only juvenile in more than 50 years to have been convicted of war crimes.
The fact that Khadr’s case is so unusual has made the trial process extremely difficult. In 1996, the U.S military captured the then-juvenile Khadr after a firefight in Afghanistan. There, he was accused of throwing the grenade that killed Speer. Under international convention, child soldiers are never prosecuted, though whether Khadr was indeed a “child soldier” was much debated. In the end, his lack of uniform and formal association with the military failed to qualify him as a child soldier.
Captain Patrick McCarthy of the U.S military is quoted as saying during his testimony that, “fifteen- year-olds should not be held to the same standard of accountability.”
Regardless of whether Khadr was or was not a child soldier, the charges against him are not those traditionally pressed on terrorists, which generally include offences against civilians. Instead, the charges levied against him are for a battlefield killing, something not usually prosecuted under the laws of war.
Khadr’s father, Ahmed Said Khadr, was a radical Muslim, known to have close ties with high-level members of Al-Qaeda and to have pressured Omar into attending a terrorist training camp at a young age. Khadr became a self- proclaimed “loyal member” of Al-Qaeda, and built roadside bombs targeted at American soldiers. He was also trained in armed combat and worked for the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group.
The late Ahmed Khadr was also on a UN terrorism blacklist, and provided funding for Al-Qaeda. In an interview, Omar Khadr’s older brother Abdulkareem Ahmed Khadr described how his upbringing taught him to fight for Islam.
Khadr was described by an FBI agent as “cold and callous.” When psychiatrist Michael Welner testified in court, he said Khadr remained “highly dangerous” and did not believe that his rehabilitation was possible. Welner claims that Khadr has been merely ‘marinating’ during his eight years imprisonment with possible jihadists in Guantanamo.
The widow of the deceased soldier, Tabitha Speer, when speaking to the press after the trial, is quoted as saying, “I believe the only regret he has is that he has been here for eight years,” and also stated that “he will always be a murderer in my eyes.”
Until recently, the Canadian government has failed to act on the situation at all. While other countries such as France and Australia are known for attempting to repatriate their detained citizens, our government has made no attempt to do so for Khadr. It was not until just before his sentencing that the Canadian government said it would “look favourably” on Khadr’s application for transfer to a Canadian prison.
Once transferred to a Canadian prison, which could be the case as early as a year from now, Khadr could apply for release in eight years. The military jury at Guantanamo was aware of this situation when passing their verdict, making the stiff 40- year sentence largely symbolic. However, this possibility of early release does not concern Capt. Patrick McCarthy, who served as a senior legal officer at Guantanamo Bay between 2006 and 2008, and claimed that Khadr did not strike him as a radical jihadist.
Khadr’s Canadian lawyer, Dennis Edney, described Khadr as a “victim of his family, his father, adults, and…a victim of this system.” His situation boils down to a judgment: is he is fit to return to society after spending a large portion of his life behind bars, or is he is likely to commit more malicious acts? And, just as importantly, was the legal process that led to his current situation administered justly?
I thank you hlubmy for sharing your wisdom JJWY