The hyper-liberal government of Canada is about to apologize to Omar Khadr, a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner, and award him C$10 million according to Reuters.
Omar Khadr faced five war crimes charges that included murder.
In July 2002, Omar Khadr threw a grenade that blew up an American soldier in Afghanistan.
Khadr was wounded and captured during this same firefight.
After his capture a video was found that shows Khadr toying with a detonating cord as other men including Abu Laith al-Libi assemble explosives in the same house that had been destroyed in the firefight.
He was also seen planting landmines while smiling and joking with the cameraman. It has been suggested that these were the same landmines later recovered by American forces on a road between Gardez and Khowst- Wiki.
Khadr was injured in the firefight and begged to be killed…
But US medics saved his life.
Instead, of facing death, Khadr was set free.
Khadr’s defense team released video of the young Islamist crying during interrogation to the media in 2008.
(BBC)
Khadr, a Canadian citizen, was captured in Afghanistan back in 2002 when he was 15 following a firefight with U.S. soldiers. He pleaded guilty to the murder of a U.S. Army medic and was then the youngest inmate in the prison.
The Canadian Supreme Court in 2010 ruled that Canada “breached his rights by sending intelligence agents to interrogate him”.
The case proved divisive: defenders called Khadr a child soldier while the then-Conservative government dismissed calls to seek leniency, noting he had pleaded guilty to a serious crime.
“Meet Canada’s newest multi-millionaire – Omar Khadr,” said the Conservatives as they unveiled a protest petition.
Tony Clement, the Conservative Party’s public safety spokesman, said “it is one thing to acknowledge alleged mistreatment, but it is wrong to lavishly reward a convicted terrorist who murdered an allied soldier who had a wife and two children”.
Khadr spent a decade in Guantanamo before being returned to Canada in 2012 to serve the rest of his sentence. He was released on bail in 2015 and lives in Edmonton, Alberta.
The Canadian government and Khadr’s lawyers agreed on the compensation deal, said the sources, who asked to remain anonymous given the sensitivity. Canada has reached a series of expensive settlements with citizens imprisoned abroad who alleged Ottawa was complicit in their mistreatment.
Khadr, 30, had sued Ottawa for C$20 million on grounds of violating his human rights.
