Omar Khadr

Omar Khadr
Detained at	Guantanamo
ISN	766
Status	Tribunal underway
Parents	Ahmed Said Khadr

Omar Ahmed Khadr (September 19 1986 - ) is the 4^th child in the Canadian Khadr family. He has been imprisoned in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps since he was captured at the age of 15 following a 2002 firefight between American troops and militants in Afghanistan. He is accused of throwing a grenade that killed a US soldier, leading to charges of war crimes and providing support to terrorism.

A Canadian citizen born in Ottawa, he is the youngest prisoner held in extrajudicial detention by the United States and has been frequently referred to as a child soldier. The only Western citizen remaining in Guantanamo, Khadr is unique in that Canada has refused to seek extradition or repatriation despite the urgings of Amnesty International, the Canadian Bar Association and other prominent organisations.

On 2007-06-04, a military court dismissed all charges against Khadr because the tribunal was only authorised to charge illegal enemy combatants, but Khadr and others had only be labelled as "enemy combatants" with no judgment on their legality, during their administrative processing.. However the case was reopened on 2007-09-24, when a military court ruled that the dismissal was unnecessary since the tribunal could judge for itself the legality of those facing it..

In February 2008, the Pentagon accidentally released documents that revealed that although Khadr was present during the firefight, there was no other evidence that he had thrown the grenade. In fact, military officials had originally reported that the man who threw the grenade was among those killed.

Early life

Khadr as a young child, with his mother Maha.

Because his father, Ahmed Said Khadr had been volunteering with Afghan refugees in Peshawar, Pakistan since 1985, Omar spent his childhood moving back and forth between Canada and Pakistan. His mother has defended raising the family outside Canada due to her fears of corrupting influences, and he was subsequently enrolled in a madrassah in Peshawar.

In 1992, Khadr's father was severely injured while in Lowgar, Afghanistan; the Khadr family moved back to Toronto so he could recuperate. Once the family moved back to Toronto, Omar became "hypersensitive to tension in the family" and would often quote Captain Haddock from The Adventures of Tintin. Enrolled at ISNA Elementary School, Omar's teachers described him as "very smart, very eager and very polite". He claimed his vision of Jannah involved a swimming pool filled with Jell-O.

Khadr as a young child.

Khadr at the Metro Toronto Zoo.

Returning to Pakistan with his family, Ahmed was arrested in 1995 after it was discovered that a Sudanese man staying with the family had purchased one of the vehicles used in Ayman al-Zawahiri's bombing of the Egyptian embassy in Pakistan. Ahmed was hospitalised after engaging in a hunger strike, and 9-year old Omar spent every night sleeping on the floor beside his father's bed. According to a Canadian Imam who had ministered the family, it was during this time in Pakistan that Omar's faith became "radicalized." Canadian prime minister Jean Chrétien mentioned the case to Benazir Bhutto asking for clemency, and Ahmed was released for lack of evidence the following year.

Khadr's father moved his family to Jalalabad, Afghanistan in 1996, where they lived in their father's NGO office. During their stay, the family visited the compound of Osama Bin Laden, whom Ahmed had befriended during the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s, on occasion and the children of the two families played together. Described as one of Bin Laden's senior lieutenants, the father moved his family into Bin Laden's compound after the leader had abandoned it.

An early photo of Khadr's mother and siblings.

Following the 1998 embassy bombings, the United States had retaliated by bombing camps in Afghanistan. Thus, expecting a similar retaliation following the September 11th attacks in 2001, the 14-year old Omar followed his father into the mountains, where he washed laundry and cooked meals for the group of militants.

It is uncertain where Khadr was throughout much of 2001 and 2002, and there are conflicting reports whether he remained with his father or was sent off alone.

According to a 2007 charge sheet released by Susan J. Crawford, the convener of the Guantanamo Military Commissions, Khadr received "one-on-one" weapons training with an unnamed al-Qaeda member nine months after heading into the mountains.

The Firefight and Capture

File:Alleged Khadr 3.png

A youth alleged to be Khadr, handling explosives.

The 15-year old Khadr was captured following a four-hour firefight in the village of Ab Khail. It was considered the first major engagement since Operation Anaconda had ended four months earlier.

A later collection of biographies written by al Qaeda praising fighters in the country mentions Omar in its article on his "martyred" father. It praises the the elder Khadr for "tossing his little child in the furnace of the battle", and likens his son to a lion cub.

According to his brother Abdurrahman Khadr, Omar had been sent to accompany three of the men visiting the residence, to serve as a translator for the gathered Mujahideen at his father's request - since he was fluent in the local Pashto dialect, as well as Arabic and English. He had previously been asked to serve as a translator for Abu Laith al-Libi. His involvement as a translator was against his mother's wishes, and she wasn't aware he had been sent out that day.

From approximately February 2002, a team of American soldiers were using the abandoned Soviet airbase in Khost, Afghanistan as an intelligence-gathering outpost, as they tried to blend in and gain the trust of the local community.

In the early morning of July 27 2002, a team composed of 19th Special Forces Group, the 505th Infantry Regiment and a "militia", comprised of hundreds of Afghan fighters loyal to mercenary warlord Pacha Khan Zadran and led by Zadran's brother Kamal, had been sent from the airbase to the home of an elderly wheelchair-bound man believed to be a bomb-maker. The search turned up no evidence against the occupants of the house.

File:Alleged Khadr Waving.png

A youth, allegedly Khadr, appears on video.

While at the house, a report came in that a certain monitored satellite phone had just been used 300--600 metres from the group's present location. Six soldiers were sent to investigate the site of the phonecall.

The group was led by Major Randy Watts, and also included XO Captain Mike Silver, Sgt Christopher Speer from Delta Force, Layne Morris and Master Sgt. Scotty Hansen, both from the 19th Special Forces Group and two others.

Arriving at a series of mud huts and a granary filled with newly-harvested straw surrounded by a 10-foot stone wall with a green metal gate approximately 100 metres radius from the main hut, the Special Forces team saw children playing around the buildings.

Seeing five "well-dressed" men sitting around a fire in the main residence, with AK-47s visible in the room, Morris approached and told the occupants to open the front door. "They looked at me and I looked at them," he later remembered. When he was ignored, he retreated and the six Americans took up a position around the complex and waited 45 minutes while Morris called for support. During this time, a crowd of approximately 100 local Afghans had gathered around the area to watch the incident unfold. An Afghan militiaman was sent towards the house to demand the surrender of the occupants, but retreated under gunfire.

After several reinforcements arrived, two more of Zadran's militiamen were sent into the compound to speak with the inhabitants. They returned to the Americans' position and reported that the men inside claimed to be Pashtun villagers. They were told to return to the huts, and inform the occupants that the Americans wanted to search their house regardless of their affiliation. Upon hearing this, the occupants of the hut opened fire, shooting both militiamen. At this point, Hansen and another soldier then ran forward and dragged the two militiamen away - an action that would see Hansen awarded a Bronze Star after the battle.

Several women immediately fled the huts and ran away while the occupants began throwing grenades at the American troops, with intermittent rifle fire. After the firefight, a statement by one of the soldiers would contradict this and say that there had only been one woman and one child present, and both were detained by US forces after exiting the huts.

Morris and Silver had now taken up positions outside the stone wall, with Silver "over Morris's left shoulder explaining where he should try to position his next shot" when Morris fell back into Silver, with a cut above his right eye and shrapnel embedded in his nose. "I thought his weapon had malfunctioned, that was my first thought," was Silver's recollection of the wound later attributed to an unseen grenade.

Morris was dragged a safe distance from the action, and was shortly after joined by Spc. Michael Rewakowski, Pfc. Brian Worth and Spc. Christopher J. Vedvick all of the 3rd Platoon of Company B of the 1st Battalion of the 505th. who had also been wounded by the grenade attacks.

At 0910 a request for MedEvac was sent to the 57th Medical Detachment. Ten minutes later, DUSTOFF 36 and Wings 11, a pair of UH-60s, were deployed as well as AH-64 Apaches Widowmaker 23 and Widowmaker 26 as escort. Arriving at the scene, the Apaches strafed the compound with cannon and rocket fire, while the medical helicopters remained 12 miles from the ongoing firefight. The helicopters finally landed at 1028 to load the wounded aboard DUSTOFF 36, while Brian Basham switched helicopters to take a wounded prisoner aboard WINGS 11, leaving Cpt. Michael Stone, CWO Ezekial Coffman, Spc. Jose Peru and Sgt. Frank Caudill aboard DUSTOFF 36, as a pair of F-18 Hornets dropped Mark 82 bombs on the houses.

At this point, a five-vehicle convoy of ground reinforcements arrived including a rifle squad from the 82nd Airborne. Ten minutes later, the MedEvac left for Bagram Airbase and a pair of A-10 Warthogs arrived on-scene and began attacking the houses along with the Apaches. The MedEvac arrived at the hospital at 1130.

Unaware that Khadr and an unidentified Mujahideen had survived the bombing, the ground forces agreed to send a team consisting of OC-1, Silver, Speer and three Delta Force soldiers into a hole in the south side of the wall.

The team began picking their way over the carcasses of dead animals and three fighters. According to Silver's 2007 telling of the story, he then heard a sound "like a gunshot", and saw the three Delta Force soldiers duck - as a grenade flew past them and exploded near Speer, who was at the rear of the group.

OC-1 reported that although he didn't hear any gunfire, the dust being blown from an alley on the northside of the complex led him to believe the team was under fire from a shooter between the house and barn. He reported that a grenade was also "lobbed" over the wall that led to the alley and landed 30-50 metres from the alley opening. Running towards the alley to escape the grenade which he also didn't hear detonate, OC-1 fired a dozen M4 Carbine rounds into the alley as he ran past, although he couldn't see anything due to the rising dust clouds. Crouching at the southeast entrance to the alleyway, OC-1 could see a man with a holstered pistol moving on the ground next to an AK-47 who had been shot twice in the chest. From his position, OC-1 fired a single shot into the man's head, killing him.

When the dust cleared, OC-1 saw Khadr crouched on his knees facing away from the action and wounded by shrapnel that had just permanently blinded his left eye, and shot him twice in the back.

OC-1 estimated that all the events since entering the wall had taken less than a minute up until this point, and that he had been the only American to fire his weapon, although an American grenade had also been thrown into the living quarters after initially entering the complex.

Khadr being treated by medics.

Two soldiers kneel over the wounded Khadr.

Silver initially claimed that two Delta Force troops had opened fire, shooting all three of the shots into Khadr's chest, after the youth was seen to be holding a pistol and facing the troops. These claims all directly contradict OC-1's version of events as the only eyewitness. OC-1 did agree however, that something was lying in the dust near Khadr's end of the alley, although he couldn't remember if it were a pistol or grenade.

Speer being unloaded at Bagram.

Entering the alleyway, OC-1 saw two dead men with a damaged AK-47 buried in rubble who he believed had been killed in the airstrikes, and confirmed that the man he had shot was dead. Moving back to Khadr, OC-1 tapped the motionless youth's eye, confirming that he was still alive. Turning him over onto his back, for entering troops to secure, he began exiting the alleyway to find Speer, who he was unaware had been wounded. While leaving the alleyway, he saw a third AK-47 and several grenades. Contradicting Morris' report of five well-dressed men, OC-1 maintained that a search of the rubble determined that there had only been four occupants, all found in the same alleyway.

Khadr was given on-site medical attention, during which time he repeatedly asked the medics to kill him in flawless English. An officer present later recorded in his diary that he was about to tell his Private Second Class to kill the wounded Khadr, when Delta Force soldiers ordered them not to harm the prisoner.

He was then loaded aboard a CH-47 helicopter and flown to Bagram Airbase, losing consciousness aboard the flight.

The following day, soldiers including Silver later returned to search the premises. Local villagers were believed to have taken away two bodies and provided them an Islamic burial, but refused to disclose their location to the Americans who wished to identify the fighters.

Remains of the structure after bombing

Believing that the wooden boards beneath the last-killed rifleman could have been used to cover an underground chamber, an excavator was used to tear down the walls of the buildings. This demolition uncovered several rocket-propelled grenades in the huts. Some of them had accidentally detonated while lying in the smouldering ruins. A plastic bag was discovered in the granary, containing documents, wires and a videocassette. OC-1's report claims the videotape was found in the main house, rather than the granary, and also mentioned detonators modeled as Sega game cartridges.

The video shows a youth, alleged to be Khadr, toying with detonating cord as other men including Abu Laith al-Libi assemble explosives in the same house as had just been destroyed, identifiable by its walls, rugs and the environment seen out the windows in the video. and planting landmines while smiling and joking with the cameraman. It has been suggested that these were the same landmines later recovered by American forces on a road between Gardez and Khowst.

Speer was moved from Bagram airbase to Rammstein Air Base in Germany, where he was removed from life support on August 7, with his heart, liver, lungs and kidneys all being donated.

Time at Bagram

The unconscious Khadr was airlifted to receive medical attention at Bagram, where interrogations began immediately after he gained consciousness approximately a week after his arrival. He remained stretcher-bound for several weeks. Fellow detainee Rhuhel Ahmed later issued a statement alleging that Khadr had been denied forms of surgery to punish him for not cooperating with military forces

On 30 August 2002, Canadian officials sent a diplomatic query to the United States requesting consular access to their citizen being held at Bagram. The request was denied ten days later, with a statement that Canada would be notified only if Canadian citizens were transferred to Guantánamo Bay.

Khadr states that he was refused pain medication for his wounds, that he had his hands tied above a door frame for hours, had cold water thrown on him, had a bag placed over his head and was threatened with military dogs, was flatulated upon, forced to carry 5-gallon pails of water to aggravate his shoulder wound . Unallowed to use washrooms, he was forced to urinate on himself. His chief interrogator was Joshua Claus, who later pleaded guilty to abusing detainees to extract confessions following the in-custody death of wrongly-accused Dilawar that same year.

Moazzam Begg

Khadr was interrogated again on September 17, and stated that he helped the militants because he had been told the United States was fighting a war against Islam. When asked if he knew of a $1500 bounty being offered for each American soldier killed in Afghanistan, he responded that he had heard the story, but didn't know who was offering the reward. When asked how that made him feel at the time, the 15-year old stated "I wanted to kill a lot of American[s] to get lots of money". Defence attorney Nathan Whiting later argued that it was "hardly convincing for the U.S. to suggest that in the midst of this battle, and after the entire site had been flattened by 500-pound bombs and everyone else in the compound killed, Omar was lying under the rubble thinking about how to earn himself $1,500."

Captives being flown to Guantanamo

Khadr spent three months recuperating at Bagram. During that time he was often singled out for extensive labour by American soldiers who "made him work like a horse", referring to him as "Buckshot" and calling him a murderer. They claimed that he had thrown a grenade at a passing convoy delivering medical supplies. He shared a cell with Moazzam Begg and ten others. He became conversational with guard Damien Corsetti, who was also one of his interrogators, and often spoke about basketball.

He was transferred to Guantanamo along with a number of other captives on October 28, 2002. Shackled, fitted with surgical masks, painted-over goggles and ear protectors to ensure sensory deprivation, he recalled being kicked when he tried to stretch his legs.

Time at Guantanamo

Muslim chaplain James Yee.

Khadr arrived at Guantanamo Bay on October 29 or October 30, to face charges of terrorism and war crimes for his actions. He was recorded as standing 70 centimetres and weighing 155lbs, and was greeted to the camp with the phrase "Welcome to Israel"

At first, he still spent much of his time in the prison hospital where he spoke with Muslim chaplain James Yee, although he didn't seek any religious counselling. By February 2003, he was writing to his grandparents in Scarborough, Ontario, saying "I pray for you very much and don't forgat me from your pray'rs and don't forget to writ me and if ther any problem writ me".

Bryan Del Monte, the Office of Detainee Affairs deputy director for political development and international issues, gave a press conference following his return from testifying before the United Nations Committee against torture. He asserted that Khadr, Muhammad al-Qarani and another youth were incarcerated separately from adults, and provided with daily lessons in mathematics, English, and science. Del Monte's assertion conflicts with all other assertions that Khadr was not among the youth who were held separately from the adult population - and that the three youths held in Camp Iguana had already been repatriated.

Because he had turned 16 while at Bagram, he was now treated as an adult prisoner at Guantanamo. Officials considered him an "intelligence treasure trove" not only because his father was Ahmed Said Khadr, but because he had personally met Osama bin Laden and might be able to offer answers about the al-Qaeda hierarchy despite having been only ten years old at the time.

Yee, the Muslim chaplain, later recalled Khadr had been given an English Mickey Mouse book as a reward from an interrogator, and that he had greatly enjoyed it, sleeping with it clutched to his chest.

On January 21 2003, a new Standard Operating Procedure was put in place for American military interrogators who were told they would have to "radically create new methods and methodologies that are needed to complete this mission in defence of our nation".

In February 2003, Canadian Foreign Affairs intelligence officer Jim Gould and an official from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service were allowed to interrogate Khadr themselves. The presence of Gould, who brought Khadr a Big Mac value meal, allowed the government to claim that the purpose of the visit was to "to ascertain Khadr's well-being", while his attorney Nate Whitling argued that "Foreign Affairs is suggesting that the visit was actually for (Khadr's) benefit, but this is not the case". His attorneys then sought a Federal Court injunction to prevent CSIS from interrogating their client in the future. The following month, a briefing from the Foreign Affairs department summarised Gould's findings stating that Khadr was a "thoroughly `screwed up' young man. All those persons who have been in positions of authority over him have abused him and his trust, for their own purposes."

Assistant Director of CSIS William Hooper assured the Canadian public this interrogation was not intended to secure intelligence for an American prosecution, but admitted that the information was all freely shared with his American captors - without securing any guarantees, such as foregoing potential death penalty charges.

For most of 2003, Khadr had a cell next to British detainee Ruhal Ahmed and the two often discussed their favourite Hollywood films, including Braveheart, Die Hard and Harry Potter. Ahmed later recalled that while some interrogations would see Khadr return to his cell smiling and discussing what movies he had been shown, other times he would return crying and huddle in the corner with his blanket over his head.

In the early spring of 2003, Khadr was told "Your life is in my hands" by a military interrogator, who spat on him, tore out some of his hair and threatened to send him to a country that would torture him more thoroughly, making specific reference to an Egyptian Askri raqm tisa ("Soldier Number Nine") who enjoyed raping prisoners. The interrogation ended with Khadr being told he would spend the rest of his life in Guantanamo. A few weeks later, an interrogator giving his name as Izmarai spoke to Khadr in Pashto, threatening to send him to a "new prison" at Bagram Airbase where "they like small boys".

In all, Khadr has been reported to have been kept in solitary confinement for long periods of time; to have been denied adequate medical treatment; to have been subjected to short shackling, and left bound, in uncomfortable stress positions until he soiled himself. Khadr's lawyers allege that his interrogators "dragged [him] back and forth in a mixture of his urine and pine oil" and did not provide a change of clothes for two days in March.

At the end of March 2003, Omar was upgraded to "Level Four" security, and transferred to solitary confinement in a windowless and empty cell for the month of April.

Over the course of 2003, Khadr gained a "certain status" among the prisoners, and led prayer groups. At one point, a year after he confided in Moazzam Begg that his brother Abdurahman Khadr was working for the Americans, he was able to have a brief discussion with his brother who was also now being held at Guantanamo, and was just 50 feet away in a separate enclosure. The two shouted to each other in Arabic, and Omar told his older brother not to admit their family's dealings with al-Qaeda, and mentioned that he was losing his left eye. During his stay, he also memorised the Quran.

Canadian intelligence officer Jim Gould returned to Guantanamo in March 2004, but was met by an uncooperative Khadr. The Foreign Affairs office claimed that Khadr was trying to be a "tough guy" and impress his cellmates, while his attorney Muneer Ahmad said that Khadr had originally believed Gould "had finally come to help him" in 2003, but by 2004 had realised that he was being interrogated, not aided, by the Canadian government.

In all, Khadr was interrogated by Canadians six times between 2003-2004, and ordered to identify photos of Canadians believed to have ties to terrorism, including Maher Arar who was then handed over to Americans, flown to Syria and tortured for a year, before being found innocent.. When he told Canadians that he had been tortured into giving false confessions by the Americans, the Canadian authorities called him a liar, causing him to cry. He later recalled that he had "tried to cooperate so that they would take me back to Canada".

On June 18 2004, Khadr wrote a letter home to his mother who had moved back to Canada to seek medical attention for his younger brother Abdulkareem. Four months later he wrote another, as well as one to his brother Abdurahman Khadr.

In August, attorneys Rick Wilson and Muneer Ahmad submit an "emergency motion" asking for the release of Khadr's medical records. Rebuffed, they were instead granted a declaration from the Guantanamo naval hospital commander Dr. John S. Edmondson stating that Khadr was "in good health", and given a two-page document entitled "Healthcare Services Evaluation"

In November 2004, following a meeting with Ahmad and Wilson, Khadr was interrogated for four days about what he had discussed with his defence lawyers; during this time he alleges that interrogators used "extreme physical force" and refused to allow him to say his daily prayers.

During this visit, the lawyers had administered a psychological questionnaire known as the ""Folstein Mini mental status examination", which they later turned over to Dr. Eric W. Trupin, an expert in the developmental psychology of juveniles in confinement. Trupin ruled that Khadr was suffering from "delusions and hallucinations, suicidal behaviour and intense paranoia", and that his abuse had left him "particularly susceptible to mental coercion.", and at moderate to high risk of committing suicide.

Efforts to secure an independent medical examination have not met with any success.

In 2005, his older sister Zaynab moved back to Canada from Pakistan to demand better treatment for Omar and his brother Abdullah. At some point prior to May 2005, Khadr requested his attorney Rick Wilson bring him back Canadian magazines with "new model cars" for reading material.

Khadr participated in a hunger strike, lasting 15 days before he was force fed by prison guards. He reported collapsing as he left the hospital, and that his guards administered a brutal beating. On July 20 2005, Guantánamo detainee Omar Deghayes wrote "Omar Khadr is very sick in our block. He is throwing [up] blood. They gave him cyrum [serum] when they found him on the floor in his cell," and his extract was subsequently published in The Independent

In April 2005, Khadr was again given another written psychiatric test by lawyers Ahmad and Wilson, which was turned over to Dr. Daryl Matthews, a forensic psychologist. Matthews concluded that Khadr met the "full criteria for a diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder."

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A youth, allegedly Khadr, smiling while burying landmines in the video.

Khadr also participated in the July 2005 200-detainee hunger strike, and went fifteen days without eating. He was twice taken to the on-site hospital and force-fed - on July 9 he was kicked and assaulted repeatedly by Military Police after collapsing from weakness.

In May 2005, Khadr announced that he would no longer cooperate with any of the American attorneys on his case, including Colby Vokey, Rick Wilson and Kristine A. Huskey. His Canadian lawyers convinced him that he had to retain Lt. Cmdr. William C. Kuebler due to the tribunal regulations.

Khadr was permitted to speak with his mother by phone for the first time in March 2007, nearly five years after his capture. He was allowed one other phone call to his family, at some point between March and June.

In November 2007, following the collapse of a military tribunal in which prosecutors "desperately" wanted to show the video found in the wreckage, the tape was leaked to the media by an unknown source and shown on 60 Minutes. Four months later, Kuebler stated that following conversations with the show's producers, he believed that the video was leaked by Vice President Dick Cheney's office.

Legal trials

Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Combatant Status Review Tribunal notice read to a Guantanamo captive.

The trailer where CSR Tribunals were held.

The Supreme Court of the United States ruled in the June 2004 Hamdi v. Rumsfeld that the Bush administration was wrong to declare they could legally withhold all the protections of the Geneva Conventions to captives from the war on terror - and that due process must be followed. Consequently, the Department of Defense instituted "Combatant Status Review Tribunals".

The Tribunals were not themselves authorized to determine whether the captives were lawful combatants -- simply to determine whether or not the captives have already been correctly proven to match the administration's definition of an "enemy combatant". Participation by the captives was voluntary, and Khadr chose not to be involved in his tribunal, at the urging of his lawyers who had been unallowed to meet with him..

On August 31 2004, a Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Khadr's Combatant Status Review Tribunal. The summary alleged that he had admitted he threw a grenade which killed a U.S. soldier, attended an al Qaida training camp in Kabul and worked as a translator for al Qaida to coordinate land mine missions. In addition, he was accused of helping to plant the landmines between Khost and Ghardez, and having visited an airport near Khost to collect information on U.S. convoy movements.

His actual tribunal was convened a week later, on September 7, as Panel #5 reviewed his status in the detainment camp. The tribunal concluded that Khadr was an "enemy combatant" and a one-page summary of conclusions was released on September 17.

O.K. vs George W. Bush

Following the successful Supreme Court ruling in Rasul v. Bush, Khadr's grandmother, acting as next friend, filed a similar appeal on his behalf on July 2 2004. The suit was named O.K. v George W. Bush since Khadr was still a minor at the time of its filing.

It was at this time that Rick Wilson was added to Khadr's defence team.

First tribunal

Fred Borch

Col. Morris Davis

In 2005, the United States announced that they were assembling the necessary framework to hold newly-crafted Guantanamo military commissions. Khadr was one of ten detainees to be charged under this new system.

The chief prosecutor Fred Borch quickly garnered criticism for "corrupting" the trials after he told presiding officers that any evidence suggesting a suspect was innocent would be given a secret security classification, so that defence teams would not learn of its existence.

He was replaced as chief prosecutor by Robert L. Swann, who was himself replaced by Col. Morris Davis in September of 2005.

On November 7, 2005, Khadr was formally charged with Murder by an Unprivileged Belligerent, Attempted Murder by an Unprivileged Belligerent, Aiding the Enemy and Conspiracy with Usama bin Laden, Ayman al Zawahiri, Sayeed al Masri, Muhammad Atef, Saif al adel, Ahmed Said Khadr "and various other members of the al Qaida organization". The United States informally indicated they would not seek the death penalty for Khadr.

On December 1, 2005 the officers were appointed to Khadr's specific commission.

Capt. John Merriam was made Khadr's official defence attorney, but agreed with Canadian counsel Muneer Ahmad that he lacked trial experience as a defence attorney, and both men requested that he be replaced. Lt. Col. Colby Vokey was named as Merriam's replacement.

Prosecutor Morris Davis became known for his "often-flamboyant quotes" about Khadr, referring to media coverage of the tribunal as "nauseating", and noting that Khadr didn't spend his time in Afghan camps "making s'mores and learning how to tie knots."

On January 11 2006 Khadr appeared at his pre-trial hearing wearing a Roots Canada t-shirt, leading judge Robert Chester to order him to wear more suitable attire in the future.

Defense attorney Vokey retired after he was disciplined for calling the tribunals a "sham" that left him feeling "disgusted".

The commissions were struck down as unconstitutional on June 29, by the Supreme Court ruling in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld which stated that "The military commission at issue lacks the power to proceed because its structure and procedures violate both the UCMJ and the four Geneva Conventions signed in 1949."

Davis resigned as prosecutor on October 6, alleging that a legal adviser was interfering in the case, but was ordered to silence his criticisms by his superiors.

Second tribunal

After the Military Commissions Act of 2006 was signed in October 2006, new charges were sworn against Khadr on February 2, 2007. He was charged with Murder in Violation of the Law of War, Attempted Murder in Violation of the Law of War, Conspiracy, Providing Material Support for Terrorism and Spying.

Khadr and the other nine detainees who faced charges were transferred to solitary confinement on March 30. Six days later, Khadr read a note to the court saying "Excuse me Mr. Judge,.. I'm being punished for exercising my right and being co-operative in participating in this military commission. For that, I say with my respect to you and everybody else here, that I'm boycotting these procedures until I be treated humanely and fair."

Khadr petitioned the US Supreme Court to review the legality of the military commission and his detention, but this request was denied in April.

On June 1, Edney announced that Khadr was rejecting a plea bargain offered by the United States that would see him serve 30 years in prison for terrorism. Peter Brownback dismissed the charges three days later, stating that Khadr had been previously classified as an "enemy combatant" by his Combatant Status Review Tribunal in 2004, while the Military Commissions Act only granted him jurisdiction to rule over "Unlawful enemy combatants"

Dennis Edney (l) and William C. Kuebler (r)

On September 9 2007, charges were reinstated against Khadr after the Court of Military Commission Review overturned Brownback's dismissal, stating that the tribunal could determine the legality of a detainee's status for itself.

In March, Kuebler insisted that "Lt. Col. W.", the Army Commander for Eastern Afghanistan at the time of the attack, had initially written in his report the day after the firefight that "the person who threw a grenade that killed Sgt. 1st Class Christopher J. Speer also died in the firefight", implying that the grenade had indeed been thrown by the surviving Mujahideen, and not by Khadr. The report was rewritten months later to say that the grenade thrower had been "engaged", rather than "killed", changing the wording that exonerated Khadr. In response, Brownback ordered that the commander be made available for an interview by the defence counsel no later than April 4.

Canadian documentation

Supreme Court of Canada

Khadr's defence attorneys claim that the Canadian government acted illegally, sending its counsel and CSIS agents to Guantanamo Bay to interrogate Khadr, and then turned their findings over to the Military Tribunal prosecutors to help convict Khadr.

In 2007, the Federal Court of Appeal ordered the Canadian government to turn over its records related to Khadr's time in captivity. The government appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada in 2008, arguing that Khadr was just "fishing" for information and that disclosing their records could jeopardise national security.

Critics alleged that the refusal to release the classified documents is due to the "embarrassment to the government" they might cause, alleging it is the same tactic used to block the release of details about Maher Arar, who was falsely accused of terrorism in 2002 and sent to Syria where he was tortured.

Civil lawsuit

Judge Paul Cassell

Sgt. Layne Morris, together with Sgt. Speer's widow Tabitha, launched a joint civil suit against the estate of Ahmed Said Khadr - claiming that the father's failure to control his son resulted in the loss of Speers' life and Morris' right eye. Since American law doesn't allow civil lawsuits against "acts of war", Speer and Morris relied on the argument that throwing the grenade was an act of terrorism, rather than war. Utah District Judge Paul Cassell gaving his ruling on February 17 2006, awarding $102.6 million in triple damages in what he said likely marks the first time terrorist acts have resulted in civil liabilities. It has been suggested that the plaintiffs might collect funds via the U.S. Terrorism Risk Insurance Act. The article quotes a Treasury Department official who acknowledged that Ahmed Khadr's assets had been frozen, but said it was up to Morris and Speer to locate them.

See also

• Military Tribunals of Omar Khadr
• O.K. v George W. Bush
• Canadian response to Omar Khadr
• Minors detained in the global war on terror

External links

• Interview with Muneer Ahmad (counsel) and Bernard Amyot (CBA President), Law is Cool Podcast #6, October 22, 2007
• Khadr teen called an 'enemy combatant', CTV, September 17, 2004
• Lawyers Level Guantanamo Torture Charges, Lancaster Intelligencer Journal, February 9 2005
• Extremist has rights! Federal judge rules visits from CSIS violate Charter rights of Gitmo guest, Edmonton Sun, August 10, 2005
• Canadian teen in Guantanamo on hunger strike, lawyers say, Globe and Mail, September 1, 2005
• Factsheet
• Interview with Layne Morris, CBC News: The Hour- November 9 2005
• Selected filings U.S. v Khadr (.pdf) 280 pages US Department of Defense
• Colin Freeze (July 19, 2007). "Detainee's lawyers dispute legality of judicial review". Globe and Mail. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• "Brief for Respondent Omar Khadr Supporting Petitioners" (PDF).
• "Brief of International Law Scholars as Amici Curiae in Support of Respondent Omar Khadr" (PDF).
• "Brief Of Juvenile Law Center as Amici Curiae in Support of Respondent Omar Khadr" (PDF).