Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Omar Khadr, growing up at Guantánamo
No shortage of controversy will surround the first military tribunal of a Guantánamo detainee under the Obama administration, scheduled to begin on April 27. On trial will be Omar Khadr, 23, who was 15 when U.S. Special Operations soldiers captured him in Afghanistan eight years ago, and his attorney will claim Khadr was tortured, both in Afghanistan and at Guantánamo to get a confession out of him. The judge presiding over the inaugural military trial will have to decide if Khadr’s assertion has validity, which could potentially undermine the prosecution’s case. In a motion filed on March 30, attorneys for the government claim that there is no evidence that Khadr was tortured.
Critics have contended the U.S. was wrong to detain a minor among adult terrorism suspects at Guantánamo Bay, and that at worst Khadr is guilty of being an indoctrinated child soldier.
American military prosecutors insist Khadr threw a grenade at U.S. forces during a fight in July 2002, killing Sgt. First Class Christopher J. Speer. But classified defense documents reportedly show that “Khadr was buried face down under rubble, blinded by shrapnel and crippled” at the time of the grenade attack.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Guantanamo Court to Review Canadian's Torture Claim (by Jane Sutton, Reuters)
Will Military Commissions Under Obama Differ From the Bush Era? (by Spencer Ackerman, Washington Independent
The Case of Omar Khadr (Department of Defense Military Commissions)
Obama Administration to Try Canadian Child Soldier Before Military Commission (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)
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