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Lawyers for Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr filed a lawsuit yesterday to force Prime Minister Stephen Harper to intervene and repatriate the 21-year-old before he faces trial by a U.S. military tribunal in October.
"It is time for Prime Minister Harper to stand up for the rights of a Canadian citizen," said his Canadian lawyers, Dennis Edney and Nate Whitling, in a release.
A Harper spokesperson said the suit would have no bearing on current government policy. Harper has long insisted he won't get involved in the case because a legal process against Khadr is underway.
The suit's legal premise is based on Canada's obligations under international law to co-operate in the social integration and rehabilitation of children in armed conflicts.
Khadr was 15 when he was captured in 2002 after a firefight in Afghanistan. The Pentagon alleges he threw a grenade that killed an American soldier.
Khadr's lawyers had hoped that public pressure after the release of an interrogation video last month, showing the youth crying for his mother, would prompt the Canadian government to intervene.
"This is predictable," said Kory Teneycke, Harper's director of communications, of the lawsuit. "It's another attempt by Mr. Khadr's lawyers to avoid a trial, on the charges of attempted murder in violation of the laws of war, conspiracy, providing material support for terrorism, and spying."
"We have no intention of deviating from the course that we're on ...," he said. "Our position is the same as the previous Liberal government's position, that Mr. Khadr should face these charges through a judicial process, not a political one and certainly not a media one."
Whitling said taking the government to court is the only option left.
"We're getting down to the point where Omar has been in Guantanamo for upwards of six years and we think it's high time this proceeding was brought," he said.
"We were hoping it wouldn't be necessary."
In May, the Supreme Court of Canada concluded that Khadr's detention violated basic human rights norms. More recently a Canadian judge deemed Khadr's treatment by U.S authorities – including sleep deprivation – violates international prohibitions against torture.
The suit, filed in Federal Court, is modelled on ones in Australia and Great Britain. Those countries eventually repatriated their citizens from Guantanamo.
It is now Canada's turn to "do what every other Western democracy has done with respect to its own citizens," said Whitling.
Khadr is the last citizen of a Western country held at Guantanamo.
[Source: The Star]
Further information
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Canada: Prime minister 'flouting international law' on Khadr (31 July 2008)
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US knew rules broken: Khadr lawyer (23 May 2008)
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Khadr lawyer urges Canada to repatriate 'child soldier' (30 April 2008
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Guantanamo Bay: Khadr case thrown out of court (June 2007)
Owner: The Star - Torontopdf: http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/475200