Omar Khadr still in detention in Guantanamo Bay
Nathan Andrews
Issue date: 11/24/09 Section: News
In as much as the idea of sovereignty seems to have become porous in the face of the homogenizing forces of globalization, the extent to which a country has the responsibility or power to protect its citizens outside of its geographical territory is still debatable.
Much diplomacy surrounds the case of Omar Khadr, and there is prolonged debate on whether he should be returned to Canada or be made to face trial in the US.
The US military arrested Khadr, 15 at the time, in July 2002 after a firefight in Afghanistan in which he suffered several gunshot wounds and other serious injuries. The Pentagon has alleged that during the attack on the suspected al-Qaeda compound, Khadr threw a grenade that killed one of the soldiers, Sgt. Christopher Speer, and wounded another.
He was therefore charged with murder and scheduled to go before a Guantanamo Bay military commission in Cuba. However, US President Barack Obama effectively shut down the commission system this year before Khadr could be tried. The Obama administration has promised to issue a decision by next week on whether Khadr will be tried in a military court or in the US domestic legal system.
Khadr, the last Western prisoner being held at the detention centre, is now 22 years old, having been kept at the base for more than six years.
Prosecutors do not have a witness who saw Khadr throw the grenade, but he could still be found guilty if they show that he was an unlawful combatant on the battlefield - meaning not a member of a uniformed state armed group. His defence lawyers have argued that he was a child soldier, not a willing member of the insurgent group.
"He was a child soldier at the time," said John Tackaberry, a spokesperson for Amnesty Interntaional Canada. "We've called from the beginning that he should be repatriated in Canada to be dealt with under our law rather than been left in the United States to face what we've already identified as an unfair tribunal system. We've said repeatedly that we didn't have confidence in the ability of the Americans to bring justice to this particular issue."
Much diplomacy surrounds the case of Omar Khadr, and there is prolonged debate on whether he should be returned to Canada or be made to face trial in the US.
The US military arrested Khadr, 15 at the time, in July 2002 after a firefight in Afghanistan in which he suffered several gunshot wounds and other serious injuries. The Pentagon has alleged that during the attack on the suspected al-Qaeda compound, Khadr threw a grenade that killed one of the soldiers, Sgt. Christopher Speer, and wounded another.
He was therefore charged with murder and scheduled to go before a Guantanamo Bay military commission in Cuba. However, US President Barack Obama effectively shut down the commission system this year before Khadr could be tried. The Obama administration has promised to issue a decision by next week on whether Khadr will be tried in a military court or in the US domestic legal system.
Khadr, the last Western prisoner being held at the detention centre, is now 22 years old, having been kept at the base for more than six years.
Prosecutors do not have a witness who saw Khadr throw the grenade, but he could still be found guilty if they show that he was an unlawful combatant on the battlefield - meaning not a member of a uniformed state armed group. His defence lawyers have argued that he was a child soldier, not a willing member of the insurgent group.
"He was a child soldier at the time," said John Tackaberry, a spokesperson for Amnesty Interntaional Canada. "We've called from the beginning that he should be repatriated in Canada to be dealt with under our law rather than been left in the United States to face what we've already identified as an unfair tribunal system. We've said repeatedly that we didn't have confidence in the ability of the Americans to bring justice to this particular issue."
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