Canadian government says no to repatriation of Omar Khadr

Before the court case that ordered the Canadian government to allow accused terrorist and Canadian citizen, Abousfian Abdelrazik to come back home from Sudan, there was the Omar Khadr. Held at the U.S. detention center Guantanamo Bay for six years without a trial, Khadr's case has stirred controversy and passion on every side of the issue. The Canadian government was in court last week to fight a Federal Court order to bring Khadr back to Canada. The order was made on April 23rd order by Federal Court judge Justice James O'Reilly. Khadr has been held since he was 15 years old. The Canadian government, in it's appeal of the decision, says that it has already "gone well beyond its duty" in helping Khadr. Khadr was accused of having thrown a grenade that killed an American soldier in 2002. Khadr was severely wounded in the fight, and subsequently taken into custody. He has been held at Guantanamo Bay since then, and has claimed he had been subjected to torture. The Federal Court order to repatriate Khadr was a landmark decision, with Justice O'Reilly saying that Canada has violated Khadr's Charter of Rights guarantee through its "apathy" towards Khadr and its complicity in Khardr's sleep deprivation torture:

"By the spring of 2004, then, Canadian officials were knowingly implicated in the imposition of sleep deprivation techniques on Mr. Khadr as a means of making him more willing to provide intelligence. Mr. Khadr was then a 17-year-old minor, who was being detained without legal representation, with no access to his family, and with no Canadian consular assistance."

The Federal Court order resulted from Khadr bringing his case against the government of Canada to the court. The Prime Minister's lawyers, in their appeal of the April 23 order, say that Canada has done everything it could do for Khadr. Earlier this year, Stephen Harper told the press that he was waiting to see what Obama's administration would do with the accused Canadian terrorist being held at Guantanamo Bay. Harper's lawyers argued in the Court of Appeal that Canada has no obligations towards Khadr. According to the Correctional Service of Canada,

"Canada has long cooperated in judicial and correctional matters. Transfer of Offenders Treaties, enable offenders, with their explicit consent and with the discretionary approval of the sentencing country and of the country of citizenship, to serve their foreign imposed sentence in their country of citizenship."

Liberal leader, Michael Ignatieff has long expressed the fact that Khadr should be brought back to Canada and given a fair trial because he is a Canadian citizen. Khadr was to have a hearing in the United States, but the hearing was put on hold indefinitely. The United States has charged Khadr 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's family had gained notoriety in Canada for its admitted connections to al Qaeda, ance it's participation in fighting in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Of the family, only Omar Khadr is currently being detained by the U.S.A. An older brother had been released in 2003. A Toronto Star editorial asserts that should Harper win the appeal, it means that Harper and his cabinet will be able to decide exclusively the fate of Canadians who run into trouble abroad.