Omar Khadr

Omar Khadr
عمر خضر
Khadr at the age of 14
BornOmar Ahmed Said Khadr
(1986-09-19) September 19, 1986 (age 38)[1]
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Detained at Bagram Air Base, (July 27, 2002 – October 29, 2002)
Guantanamo Bay (October 29, 2002 – September 28, 2012)
Millhaven Institution (September 28, 2012 – May 28, 2013)
Edmonton Institution (May 28, 2013 – February 11, 2014)
Bowden Institution (February 11, 2014 – May 7, 2015)
Charge(s)Five charges of war crimes under the Military Commissions Act of 2006, including "murder in violation of the laws of war"
PenaltyEight additional years confinement (no credit for eight years already served; parole eligibility in mid-2013)
StatusPleaded guilty on October 25, 2010 (later retracted); released on bail May 7, 2015; completed conditions March 25, 2019
ParentsAhmed Khadr
Maha el-Samnah

Omar Ahmed Said Khadr (Arabic: عمر أحمد سعيد خضر; born September 19, 1986) is a Canadian who, at the age of 15, was detained by the United States at Guantanamo Bay for ten years, during which he pleaded guilty to the murder of U.S. Army Sergeant 1st Class Christopher Speer and other charges.[2][3] He later appealed his conviction, claiming that he falsely pleaded guilty so that he could return to Canada where he remained in custody for three additional years.[4][5][6] Khadr sued the Canadian government for infringing his rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms; this lawsuit was settled in 2017 with a CA$10.5 million payment and an apology by the federal government.[7]

Born in Canada, Khadr was taken to Afghanistan by his father, who was affiliated with Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. On July 27, 2002, at age 15, Khadr was severely wounded during fighting between U.S. soldiers and Taliban fighters in the village of Ayub Kheyl; Khadr is alleged to have thrown the grenade that killed Speer.[8] After he was captured and detained at the Bagram Airfield, he was sent to the Guantanamo Bay detention camps in Cuba. During his detention, Khadr was interrogated by both Canadian and US intelligence officers.

After eight years in detention, Khadr pleaded guilty in October 2010 to "murder in violation of the laws of war" and four other charges at a hearing before a United States military commission.[9][10][11][12][13] The charges were filed under the US Military Commission Act of 2006 and considered under US law to be war crimes, although the act was not in place at the time the alleged offenses took place.[14][15][16][17][18] Khadr agreed to an eight-year sentence with no credit for eight years already served and the possibility of a transfer to Canada after a minimum of one year and parole eligibility after three years.[19]

According to the UN, Khadr was the first person since World War II to be prosecuted in a military commission for war crimes committed while still a minor. His conviction and sentence were denounced by some civil rights groups and the United Nations Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict.[20][21]

Meanwhile, early in 2010, the Supreme Court of Canada had ruled that the Canadian government's interrogation of Khadr at Guantanamo Bay "offend[ed] the most basic Canadian standards [of] the treatment of detained youth suspects",[22][23] but stopped short of ordering Khadr's repatriation. However, on September 29, 2012, Khadr returned to Canada to serve the remainder of his sentence in Canadian custody.[24]

Khadr was released on bail in May 2015 (pending an appeal of his U.S. conviction) after the Alberta Court of Appeal refused to block his release as had been requested by the Canadian government.[4] In 2017, the Canadian government announced a CA$10.5 million settlement with Khadr to compensate for damages arising from its previous handling of the case.[25] Tabitha Speer, Christopher Speer's widow, filed an application to enforce a US$134 million Utah default civil judgment in Canada.[26] On March 25, 2019, the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench ruled that Khadr's time on conditional release counted towards his sentence, which was declared completed.[27]

  1. ^ "Recommendation to Retain under DoD Control for Guantanamo Detainee, Omar Ahmed Khader, ISN:US9CA-000766DP" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 18, 2022.
  2. ^ Jane Sutton (August 9, 2010). "Omar Khadr's Confession Can Be Used at Guantanamo Trial". Archived from the original on August 6, 2018. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
  3. ^ "Facts About the Khadr's Charges". The Globe and Mail. October 25, 2010. Archived from the original on December 21, 2018. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference cbcbail was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Omar Khadr explains war-crimes guilty pleas in court filing". CBC News. December 13, 2013. Archived from the original on December 15, 2013. Retrieved December 19, 2013.
  6. ^ Shephard, Michelle (December 13, 2013). "Omar Khadr: No memory of firefight in Afghanistan". Toronto Star. Toronto. Archived from the original on August 20, 2017. Retrieved September 7, 2017.
  7. ^ Tasker, John Paul (July 7, 2017). "Liberal government formally apologizes to Omar Khadr". CBC News. Archived from the original on July 7, 2017. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  8. ^ Michelle Shepard (4 February 2008). "Khadr secret document released by accident". The Star. Archived from the original on 8 August 2017. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
  9. ^ "Charges" (PDF). April 24, 2007. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 9, 2010. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
  10. ^ "Omar Ahmed Khadr". Human Rights First. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  11. ^ Sean Flynn, "The Defense Will Not Rest" Archived 2014-12-16 at the Wayback Machine, GQ Magazine, August 2007, p. 1
  12. ^ "FAQs about the Military Commissions Act". The Center for Victims of Torture. Archived from the original on 2007-12-22. Retrieved 2007-12-17.
  13. ^ Savage, Charlie (October 25, 2010). "Deal Averts Trial of Guantánamo Prisoner, Omar Khadr". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 9, 2017. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
  14. ^ Rona, Gabor (May 2008). "Legal Issues in the 'War on Terrorism' – Reflecting on the Conversation Between Silja N.U. Voneky and John Bellinger" (PDF). German Law Journal. 9 (5): 711–36. doi:10.1017/S2071832200000079. S2CID 141720186. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 April 2016. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  15. ^ Heller, Kevin John (August 5, 2008). "The Non-Existent War Crime of "Murder in Violation of the Law of War"". Opinio Juris. Archived from the original on August 9, 2017. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  16. ^ Macklin, Audrey (October 31, 2008). "The Omar Khadr Case: Redefining War Crimes". Human Rights Watch. Archived from the original on July 1, 2016. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  17. ^ Shephard, Michelle (July 3, 2017). "Khadr to get apology, compensation over $10M as lawsuit settled". The Toronto Star. Archived from the original on July 10, 2017. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  18. ^ Ralph, Jason (2 November 2010). "America rewrites the laws of war for Omar Khadr". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  19. ^ "Diplomatic Notes" (PDF). October 24, 2010. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 1, 2010. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
  20. ^ Isikoff, Michael (10 August 2010). "Landmark Gitmo trial puts White House in tight spot". NBC NEWS. Archived from the original on 10 January 2016. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
  21. ^ Jane Sutton (November 1, 2010). "Guantanamo Canadian to serve 8 more years in prison". Reuters. Archived from the original on February 1, 2013.
  22. ^ Cite error: The named reference canlii2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  23. ^ Cite error: The named reference scc2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  24. ^ "Omar Khadr returns to Canada". CBC News. September 29, 2012. Archived from the original on May 6, 2015. Retrieved January 29, 2016.
  25. ^ "Trudeau tells town hall heckler that he, too, is angry about Omar Khadr's $10.5M settlement". National Post. Retrieved Dec 30, 2022.
  26. ^ Gillies, Rob (July 5, 2017). "Widow goes after money Canada will give ex-Gitmo prisoner". Associated Press. Archived from the original on January 24, 2018. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
  27. ^ "Omar Khadr's war crimes sentence is finished, Alberta judge rules". CBC News. March 25, 2019. Archived from the original on March 26, 2019. Retrieved March 26, 2019.