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Khadr's lawyers say he's in rough shape, should go back to Canada CBC News June 29, 2006 WASHINGTON (CP) - Lawyers for Canadian teenager Omar Khadr said they fear he's in terrible shape and should either be released or extradited from the Guantanamo Bay prison camp now that the Supreme Court has ruled U.S. military war crimes trials are illegal. "It's time for him to go home," said Lt.-Col. Colby Vokey, lead lawyer for Khadr, who faces life in prison for allegedly murdering a U.S. medic in a 2002 firefight in Afghanistan. "I would be much more comfortable with him facing charges in Canada. Let him see his family." "I think that would go a long way. At some point, you have to start treating him like a human being." And maybe, said Vokey, it's simply time to turn him loose. "Have they got a pound of flesh out of him already? I would say yes." "He's being treated differently than any other teenager in the United States or Canada." In a stunning blow for President George W. Bush, the U.S. high court ruled Thursday he over-stepped his authority in ordering the military trials for detainees in the war on terror. And while Bush said he'll now ask Congress to approve the tribunals, legal experts said they'd have to be completely revised to comply with the rule of law and the Geneva Conventions. "They're going to have to start from scratch," said Vokey, or follow the U.S. military courts-martial system, an option Bush doesn't seem to favour. "I would still have complaints about the treatment of Omar but if you followed the rules that are already there, you wouldn't hear me complain as loud," he said. "It would truly be a lot closer to a full and fair hearing that they've been advertising. They can't avoid the law any longer, that's really what the Supreme Court is saying." Muneer Ahmad, a civilian U.S. lawyer who's on Khadr's legal team, said he's "thrilled" with the decision, adding the teen should go home "whether Canada chooses to try him or not." Canadian officials have been mostly silent about the case and have said nothing publicy about the widely condemned prison camp. "I hope Canada finally says enough is enough," said Ahmad. "If Canada waits for the U.S. to come up with another system that will pass muster, who knows how old Omar will be by the time he gets to trial?" asked Ahmad, who has accused the military of torturing his client. Article Posted at www.KnowledgeDrivenRevolution.com Meantime, Khadr is in legal limbo at the camp, surrounded by razor wire and guard posts. He's one of only 10 among some 450 detainees to be charged and assigned lawyers. He appeared at pre-trial hearings in January and April on the U.S. naval base in southeastern Cuba. Vokey said Khadr, who was just 15 years old when he was picked up by the U.S. military and badly injured in the fighting, has faced horrendous interrogation sessions and months in solitary confinement. He needs to be evaluated by an independent psychiatrist, said Vokey, especially after three prisoners committed suicide earlier this month. Authorities haven't responded to his request. The lawyer's planning a trip to Canada to speak with federal officials, who must make an extradition request. He also wants to speak with Khadr's family, saying they haven't been doing him any favours by making inflammatory public comments and attending hearings for some of the 17 terror suspects arrested in Toronto early this month. "I just can't sit back on my heels and do nothing," said Vokey, who recently returned from interviewing witnesses in Afghanistan and Pakistan and visiting the battle site. "We're terribly concerned about Omar, both physically and mentally." Khadr's Canadian lawyers also said they want him back in Canada and are criticizing Ottawa for failing to take a stand in his case or a position on the prison camp, while countries around the world have demanded it be closed. "We have a government that hasn't said a word," said Edmonton lawyer Dennis Edney. "They have been using silent diplomacy. I have three binders full of letters from Foreign Affairs that don't say anything." "Officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs are presently reviewing the decision with a view to its impact on the existing proceedings against the Canadian detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Omar Khadr," said department spokesman Rodney Moore in Ottawa on Thursday. "Questions on a decision to proceed with charges of terrorist acts committed abroad, or a request for extradition, rest with the minister of justice." The Justice Ministry had no immediate comment. Nathan Whitling, who also represents Khadr, said he should either be released or face trial where he's guaranteed due process. "It should be in Canada," he said from Edmonton. "If not, a U.S. domestic court." The Khadr family has provoked intense debate in Canada. The patriarch, Ahmed Said Khadr, killed in a firefight with Pakistani forces in 2003, was allegedly an associate of Osama bin Laden and a financier of the al-Qaida network. At one time or another, each of the family's five siblings, all Canadian citizens, have been accused or investigated for alleged links to terrorism. "I know the Khadr family is controversial," said Vokey. "But I don't represent them. I represent Omar." "And everybody in that family is not the same. "If he was 21 or 25 when they picked him up, it would be a whole lot different. I probably wouldn't have been as anxious to take the case." The Center for Constitutional Rights in New York City said Bush now has a "big hill to climb" in proceeding with the Guantanmo cases because some evidence was obtained through torture and there wasn't adequate access to defence lawyers. "We certainly think people should not be held any longer at Guantatamo," centre president Michael Ratner said from New York. "They should either be charged or released. I don't think there's any middle ground." Ratner said he thinks the centre's so-called habeus corpus applicatons to free Khadr and the other prisoners will now proceed rapidly in a U.S. federal court. Edney, who called the court ruling "staggering," said Khadr is now entitled to "a real court with real laws of evidence." "That can't take place in the free-for-all of Guantanamo Bay." Khadr's case was supposed to resume this week but was postponed pending the court ruling and the suicides. Bush has said he'd like to shut down the camp, saying it gives even friends of the United States an opportunity to criticize the country. But he reiterated Thursday some of the prisoners are dangerous terrorists who can't be released. And the government is just now finishing a $30-million US prison wing modelled after maximum-security prisons to replace the steel-mesh cells that have been holding detainees since January 2002. About 120 prisoners are cleared to go home but many can't be released because of U.S. concern they'd face torture in their home countries. U.S. officials have seemed intent on making an example of Khadr. The chief U.S. military prosecutor said earlier this year he found it "nauseating" to read sympathetic portrayals of Khadr as a fresh-faced teen. About KDR \| \| Home \| \| Weekly Features Archive	Weekly Weekly Features Archive
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Khadr's lawyers say he's in rough shape, should go back to Canada

CBC News
June 29, 2006

Canada WASHINGTON (CP) - Lawyers for Canadian teenager Omar Khadr said they fear he's in terrible shape and should either be released or extradited from the Guantanamo Bay prison camp now that the Supreme Court has ruled U.S. military war crimes trials are illegal.

"It's time for him to go home," said Lt.-Col. Colby Vokey, lead lawyer for Khadr, who faces life in prison for allegedly murdering a U.S. medic in a 2002 firefight in Afghanistan.

"I would be much more comfortable with him facing charges in Canada. Let him see his family."

"I think that would go a long way. At some point, you have to start treating him like a human being."

And maybe, said Vokey, it's simply time to turn him loose.

"Have they got a pound of flesh out of him already? I would say yes."

"He's being treated differently than any other teenager in the United States or Canada."

In a stunning blow for President George W. Bush, the U.S. high court ruled Thursday he over-stepped his authority in ordering the military trials for detainees in the war on terror.

And while Bush said he'll now ask Congress to approve the tribunals, legal experts said they'd have to be completely revised to comply with the rule of law and the Geneva Conventions.

"They're going to have to start from scratch," said Vokey, or follow the U.S. military courts-martial system, an option Bush doesn't seem to favour.

"I would still have complaints about the treatment of Omar but if you followed the rules that are already there, you wouldn't hear me complain as loud," he said.

"It would truly be a lot closer to a full and fair hearing that they've been advertising. They can't avoid the law any longer, that's really what the Supreme Court is saying."

Muneer Ahmad, a civilian U.S. lawyer who's on Khadr's legal team, said he's "thrilled" with the decision, adding the teen should go home "whether Canada chooses to try him or not."

Canadian officials have been mostly silent about the case and have said nothing publicy about the widely condemned prison camp.

"I hope Canada finally says enough is enough," said Ahmad.

"If Canada waits for the U.S. to come up with another system that will pass muster, who knows how old Omar will be by the time he gets to trial?" asked Ahmad, who has accused the military of torturing his client.

Article Posted at www.KnowledgeDrivenRevolution.com

Meantime, Khadr is in legal limbo at the camp, surrounded by razor wire and guard posts. He's one of only 10 among some 450 detainees to be charged and assigned lawyers. He appeared at pre-trial hearings in January and April on the U.S. naval base in southeastern Cuba.

Vokey said Khadr, who was just 15 years old when he was picked up by the U.S. military and badly injured in the fighting, has faced horrendous interrogation sessions and months in solitary confinement.

He needs to be evaluated by an independent psychiatrist, said Vokey, especially after three prisoners committed suicide earlier this month. Authorities haven't responded to his request.

The lawyer's planning a trip to Canada to speak with federal officials, who must make an extradition request. He also wants to speak with Khadr's family, saying they haven't been doing him any favours by making inflammatory public comments and attending hearings for some of the 17 terror suspects arrested in Toronto early this month.

"I just can't sit back on my heels and do nothing," said Vokey, who recently returned from interviewing witnesses in Afghanistan and Pakistan and visiting the battle site.

"We're terribly concerned about Omar, both physically and mentally."

Khadr's Canadian lawyers also said they want him back in Canada and are criticizing Ottawa for failing to take a stand in his case or a position on the prison camp, while countries around the world have demanded it be closed.

"We have a government that hasn't said a word," said Edmonton lawyer Dennis Edney.

"They have been using silent diplomacy. I have three binders full of letters from Foreign Affairs that don't say anything."

"Officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs are presently reviewing the decision with a view to its impact on the existing proceedings against the Canadian detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Omar Khadr," said department spokesman Rodney Moore in Ottawa on Thursday.

"Questions on a decision to proceed with charges of terrorist acts committed abroad, or a request for extradition, rest with the minister of justice."

The Justice Ministry had no immediate comment.

Nathan Whitling, who also represents Khadr, said he should either be released or face trial where he's guaranteed due process.

"It should be in Canada," he said from Edmonton.

"If not, a U.S. domestic court."

The Khadr family has provoked intense debate in Canada. The patriarch, Ahmed Said Khadr, killed in a firefight with Pakistani forces in 2003, was allegedly an associate of Osama bin Laden and a financier of the al-Qaida network.

At one time or another, each of the family's five siblings, all Canadian citizens, have been accused or investigated for alleged links to terrorism.

"I know the Khadr family is controversial," said Vokey.

"But I don't represent them. I represent Omar."

"And everybody in that family is not the same.

"If he was 21 or 25 when they picked him up, it would be a whole lot different. I probably wouldn't have been as anxious to take the case."

The Center for Constitutional Rights in New York City said Bush now has a "big hill to climb" in proceeding with the Guantanmo cases because some evidence was obtained through torture and there wasn't adequate access to defence lawyers.

"We certainly think people should not be held any longer at Guantatamo," centre president Michael Ratner said from New York.

"They should either be charged or released. I don't think there's any middle ground."

Ratner said he thinks the centre's so-called habeus corpus applicatons to free Khadr and the other prisoners will now proceed rapidly in a U.S. federal court.

Edney, who called the court ruling "staggering," said Khadr is now entitled to "a real court with real laws of evidence."

"That can't take place in the free-for-all of Guantanamo Bay."

Khadr's case was supposed to resume this week but was postponed pending the court ruling and the suicides.

Bush has said he'd like to shut down the camp, saying it gives even friends of the United States an opportunity to criticize the country.

But he reiterated Thursday some of the prisoners are dangerous terrorists who can't be released.

And the government is just now finishing a $30-million US prison wing modelled after maximum-security prisons to replace the steel-mesh cells that have been holding detainees since January 2002.

About 120 prisoners are cleared to go home but many can't be released because of U.S. concern they'd face torture in their home countries.

U.S. officials have seemed intent on making an example of Khadr. The chief U.S. military prosecutor said earlier this year he found it "nauseating" to read sympathetic portrayals of Khadr as a fresh-faced teen.