Omar Khadr compensated in the controversy

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Omar Khadr was accused of killing a u.s. soldier in Afghanistan in 2002.

Boris Proulx and
Guillaume St-Pierre

Friday, 7 July, 2017 23:26

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Friday, 7 July, 2017 23:26

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OTTAWA | An american veteran injured by Omar Khadr is “infuriating and disturbing” that the Canada compensates the ex-detainee of Guantanamo bay, accused of having killed his companion-in-arms.

The sergeant Layne Morris, a retired us special forces who lives in Utah, has termed the compensation announced yesterday of the “torrent of money for a man who has made poor life choices” in an interview with the Salt Lake City Tribune.

The man was éborgné by a grenade allegedly thrown during an attack by Omar Khadr, when he was 15 years old. His colleague Christopher Speer was killed by the explosion.

Photo By Christopher Nardi

Ralph Goodale. Minister of public Safety

Child-soldier

Child-soldier for some, terrorist for others, Omar Khadr claimed approximately$ 20 Million to the government of Canada in a civil lawsuit to have let him languish in the american prison of Guantanamo, Cuba.

“Our cause had no chance of success,” ruled the minister of public Safety, Ralph Goodale, yesterday, at the time to officially announce an agreement out of court with Mr. Khadr.

The federal government had, according to him, no choice but to indemnify the man of 30 years of an amount remained confidential, despite the leaks reported by several media outlets to the effect that he has obtained $10.5 million.

Harper

Mr. Khadr was captured in Afghanistan when he was only 15 years old, accused of having killed a grenade at an american soldier. He was himself heavily wounded during the event.

He is then kept imprisoned at the military base of Guantanamo for a decade because the former government of Stephen Harper always refused to request his repatriation to Canada.

“[Compensation] has nothing to do with what happened on the field of battle in Afghanistan, ” said minister Goodale. Canada had to comply with the Charter and the rule of law. “

It is based on three judgments of the courts in which Canada has failed to protect the rights of Omar Khadr, a canadian citizen, under the Charter of rights and freedoms.

“This is a slap in the face to the men and women in uniform […] that is disgusting “, said yesterday the leader of the conservatives Andrew Scheer, according to which the return of Mr. Khadr to Canada is already a compensation.

Widow

He accuses the government of having acted quickly in the matter to short-circuit the attempt to block the payment of the money by the widow of the american soldier allegedly killed by Omar Khadr, Tabitha Speer.

According to the Toronto Star, the canadian lawyer has launched yesterday an “emergency procedure” to request the freezing of the money provided to Mr. Khadr.

Minister Goodale categorically denies that the regulation has a link with the intention of the widow to turn to the courts or ” any other proceedings alleged in the media “.

In the same breath, he condemned the pouring of information to the media about the settlement amount of the leak “very, very serious” and ” that would imperil the course of justice “.

Later in the evening, the office of the prime minister Justin Trudeau wished to provide some clarifications.

“We are of any heart with the family Speer, stressed the press secretary Cameron Ahmad. What has happened is a tragedy. We expect that it will demand the reparation which, in his opinion, is due to him, and would be appropriate. The judicial process will take its course. “

terrorist or child soldier ?

1986: Omar Khadr is born in Toronto to parents of palestinian origin.

1996: He is sent by his father in the training camps of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, where the family resides.

July 2002: Omar Khadr, 15 years old, is captured by american soldiers who accused him of having killed a grenade a u.s. military.

October 2002: He was transferred to the prison of the u.s. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

2003 and 2004: spies the canadian question Kadhr at Guantanamo bay and shared the resulting information with u.s. authorities.

2008: The supreme Court of Canada concludes that the sharing of such information is illegal.

2009: The federal Court of Canada rules Ottawa has violated the rights of Khadr by refusing to request his repatriation.

2010: The supreme Court of Canada reiterated that Ottawa has violated the rights of Khadr, having participated in illegal methods to interrogate him.

October 2010: Khadr pleads guilty to all counts of war crimes pending against him in the hope of being transferred to Canada.

2012: Khadr is repatriated to Canada.

2015: Omar Khadr gets a parole.

2017: The Trudeau government apologizes publicly to Khadr and pays him more than $ 10 million in compensation for ill-treatment suffered in detention in Guantanamo.