The Khadr Thread

[cupper]

But then again I live in an imaginary world where reporters are actually interested in making fair and balanced reports

What a wonderful world that must be. Sun always shining, birds always singing.

 

[The Bread Guy]

So long Kingston, hello Edmonton!

Former Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr woke up in an Alberta prison Wednesday after months stuck in isolation at a penitentiary in Ontario where an inmate had threatened his life, The Canadian Press has learned.

Khadr was flown to the Edmonton Institution Tuesday, potentially ending a situation in which he had been deprived of prison programming that complicated efforts to seek parole, his lawyer Dennis Edney confirmed.

"Hopefully, this is a positive step in his long journey to freedom," the Edmonton-based Edney said.

"I hope that this is a new start for Omar, an opportunity for people to see him as he really is — as someone who poses no threat to Canada, someone who has no radical viewpoints."

The transfer allows Khadr to be closer to his lawyer and should obviate concerns about any negative influence from his family in Toronto, some of whom expressed sympathy for al-Qaida several years ago.

The maximum-security Edmonton Institution is home to about 225 inmates ....

The Canadian Press via CBC.ca, 29 May 13

 

[OldSolduer]

So long Kingston, hello Edmonton!CBC.ca, 29 May 13

This isn't going to help matters either. Any where the poor little darling goes, it won't be long til  he's in seg again.

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

I hear the red neck province is more tolerable of terrorists

 

[jollyjacktar]

Too bad it wasn't DB he was waking up in.  That's a proper institution.

 

[Kat Stevens]

I hear the red neck province is more tolerable of terrorists

......., nah, never mind.

 

[GAP]

Omar Khadr eligible for day parole
By Jessica Hume, Parliamentary Bureau
Article Link

OTTAWA - Convicted terrorist Omar Khadr, whose actions have been called treasonous by many Canadians, is eligible for day parole on Canada Day.

Technically, Khadr could be out on the streets Monday since under Canadian law, he is now eligible for day parole having served one-third of his sentence here.

Khadr has been behind bars for his entire adult life after throwing the grenade that killed an American medic in Afghanistan in 2002, when he was 15 years old.

As of Monday, he could find himself eligible to work, volunteer, attend classes at school and even move out of a correctional facility and into a halfway house.

But just because Khadr is eligible for his first taste of freedom doesn't mean he'll get it.

It is unclear whether Khadr has even applied for day parole and as of October 2012, his lawyers had filed no such application.
little more on link

 

[jollyjacktar]

:boke:

 

[George Wallace]

As upsetting at this is to most of us on this site, I tend to agree with ERC's comments in another thread about the way ahead:

I believe - maybe just sincerely hope - that the North African/Arab/Persian/West Asian Islamic region is due for a series of wars and insurrections that will put the Thirty Years War to shame in terms of both savagery and death toll and in (eventual) positive outcome. The problem, I reiterate, in not (in my opinion) Islam, itself; it is the primitive, even retarded North African/Arab/Persian/West Asian culture which still thinks that public executions like this, so called "honour killings" and female genital mutilation are cause to shout "God is great!" That culture is unacceptable in the 21st century West; either the Muslims change it or we change them ... probably into ash. In the interim we should isolate them - sell them arms, by all means, so long as they can pay cash on the barrel head, but cut off all immigration, student visas, tourism, trade and so on for a generation or two.

Our new "Frontlines" will not be sending troops to assist bringing peace to those nations, but to strictly enforce immigration and prevent the spread of those barbaric and radical views into our society.  We have gone through the Crusades and Spanish Inquisitions to see the Protestant Reformation and Age of Enlightenment.  Society and cultural evolution in the West has for the most part criminalized those barbaric practices of the past.  Those societies and cultures that have not should not be allowed to spread.

I seriously think that the release of Khadr to have any chance of wandering off and practicing the radical views that he and some of his family living in this country hold would be a grave mistake.  What weight do our Laws have reference deportation of such "nonconformists to our society" back to their "native" countries have, if they can be so easily circumvented?  Send them all back to the society and culture they truly want.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Giving it another shot via the Canadian legal system ....

Former Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr is challenging the legality of his detention, his lawyer arguing that the Canadian government has illegally held him as an adult for crimes committed when he was 15 years old.

An application calling for his immediate release was filed in Alberta, where Khadr is being held in the maximum security Edmonton Institution.

“This government needs to be made accountable for its mistreatment of Omar Khadr when in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and in Canada,” his lawyer Dennis Edney said in a written statement to the Star.

“(Canada) was complicit with the U.S. in his abuse and torture and it continues to abuse him in Canada by locking him away, in a maximum security prison, as an adult, instead of being treated as a youth.”

(....)

Edney is arguing in what’s known as an application for habeas corpus, that Canada did not appropriately apply the provisions of the International Transfer of Offenders Act to Khadr’s case, which allowed the U.S. to transfer him from Guantanamo to Canada.

Offenders under the age of 18 face different sentencing guidelines and protections in Canada, according to the Youth Criminal Justice Act. An 8-year sentence could be imposed on a youth for similar offences for Khadr’s conviction had they occurred in Canada, the brief states.

However, according to the transfer act, that means Khadr would be detained in a provincial facility, Edney argues, not in federal maximum security institutions such as Millhaven and Edmonton.

An adult would not be given an 8-year sentence for those crimes ....

Toronto Star, 13 Aug 13

 

[BernDawg]

And, quite often young offenders that commit murder are charged and sentenced as adults.....

 

[Good2Golf]

...An 8-year sentence could be imposed on a youth for similar offences for Khadr’s conviction had they occurred in Canada, the brief states....

Hmmmm, trying to rack my brain when the last time in Canada that a young offender lobbed a grenade into a crowd, killing someone -- something tells me there is no jurisprudence for such a case.

 

[jollyjacktar]

Hmmmm, trying to rack my brain when the last time in Canada that a young offender lobbed a grenade into a crowd, killing someone -- something tells me there is no jurisprudence for such a case.

Bloody well hope so.

 

[George Wallace]

Does it matter what 'instrument' a Young Offender uses to kill someone?  Gun, knife, baseball bat, hammer, grenade, pipe bomb?

 

[Good2Golf]

Does it matter what 'instrument' a Young Offender uses to kill someone?  Gun, knife, baseball bat, hammer, grenade, pipe bomb?

Absolutely not, and society needs to sort itself out as to whether 'poor little innocent kid' deserves significant concessions from an upholding justice point of view -- it is a double whammy, reducing culpability and then following that with reduced sentencing relative to adults.  There needs to be serious dialogue regarding the case of presumptive offences, and whether 14 years of age is an appropriate minimum for such acts.  Aggravated criminal acts should be dealt with as they are with adults.  I do not believe that is currently the case with youths prosecuted under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, in particular, for presumptive offences.

Regards
G2G

 

[Rifleman62]

Via Small Dead Animals (SDA)

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/politics/archives/2013/08/20130830-185528.html

Trudeau: Omar Khadr should be treated like 'any Canadian'

KRIS SIMS - QMI AGENCY - 31 Aug 13

HALIFAX — Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau isn't ruling out compensation for Omar Khadr for the time the convicted terrorist served in Guantanamo Bay.

"Omar Khadr needs to be treated the way we treat Canadians according to the rules that exist, according to the laws and principles that govern," said Trudeau, adding the former teen soldier should be treated like "any Canadian who as been incarcerated outside of the country.”

"We need to be fair to the way we treat Canadians, and if people don't like the way the laws are now, well then, they need to change them," Trudeau said.

Trudeau made the remarks in Halifax Friday during a Nova Scotia tour supporting provincial Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil in a yet-to-be-called election.

"Justin Trudeau is in way over his head if he thinks convicted terrorist Omar Ahmed Khadr should get special compensation,” Steven Blaney told QMI Agency.

Khadr went to Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban after the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

The then 15-year-old was captured in Afghanistan 2002 by U.S. soldiers after he threw a grenade and killed U.S. Army medic Christopher Speer.

Khadr, who was born in Toronto, pleaded guilty to murder and terrorism as part of a plea deal in 2010 for his war crimes.

He is now serving time in Edmonton where he is eligible for day parole.

In June 2010, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously ruled Khadr's rights had been violated while being held in the American detention centre, opening the door to possible legal challenges and compensation requests in Canada.

   

 

[ModlrMike]

If his rights were violated as the SCC says, then it was the US that did so.

Mr Trudeau needs to look up the word perfidy. That's the real crime that Khadr should have been charged with.

 

[FJAG]

If his rights were violated as the SCC says, then it was the US that did so.

Mr Trudeau needs to look up the word perfidy. That's the real crime that Khadr should have been charged with.

Hate to burst your bubble but Canada did play a minor role. At the same time I don't want anything I say to be misinterpreted as any endorsement or support of young Trudeau (who I dislike as much as I did his father).

The problem is that the SCC decision expressly dealt with actions by CSIS agents who interviewed Khadr in Gitmo and turned the results of their interview over to the US. The court expressly held that with respect to one interview (at least) the Canadian agents knew that Khadr had been sleep deprived and therefore more susceptible to questioning. In short the court held that the Gitmo procedures in place at the time denied individuals fundamental justice. This decision was based primarily on several US Supreme Court decision which held various elements of the then existing processes at Gitmo to be illegal.

The SCC decision dealt with disclosure to Khadr of their interviews with him. The court declared that s7 of the Charter applied in these circumstances and disclosure was required. Do note however para 27 of the decision which states that merely interviewing a person held in a violative process may not constitute participation in the process. It also states that turning over the fruits of that interview does not necessarily constitute a breach of the subjects Charter 7 rights.

One should not confuse this SCC decision with the establishment of a right to compensation for Khadr from Canada. It goes no further than restating the US law at the time and stating that as a result of the state of the US law and the Gitmo procedures at the time that Canada had an obligation to provide Khadr with the documentation created by its agents' involvement through interviews.

I don't doubt that Khadr's lawyers will try their hand at getting compensation based on the CSIS agents' role. I personally think they probably wouldn't win the case as Khadr circumstances do not arise from or where not materially contributed to by Canada. I expect CSIS got nothing more out of Khadr than what the US already had. How such a claim would play out however will be anyone's guess.

 

[Journeyman]

... lawyers will try their hand at getting compensation ....

Of course; it's what they do.

I personally think they probably wouldn't win the case....

Nonetheless, Canadian taxpayers certainly lose out by funding the money-grab.  Let the bleeding hearts who wanted him back in Canada (but not in their neighbourhood) pay for the lawyers.

    :not-again:

 

[The Bread Guy]

And a court in Edmonton says "yer staying in Club Fed" ....

Omar Khadr is staying put in the Edmonton Max.

Court of Queen's Bench Associate Chief Justice John Rooke on Friday denied the former Guantanamo Bay detainee's application to be transferred to a provincial medium-security jail.

Defence lawyer Dennis Edney had argued the eight-year sentence given to Khadr, 27, is a global youth sentence, based on the fact that a minimum adult sentence in Canada for murder would be one of life in prison. As a result, Edney said Khadr's sentence should be served in a provincial institution.

Federal government lawyer Bruce Hughson had agreed the murder sentence is a youth one, but argued Khadr's other convictions for spying, attempted murder and terrorism were determined to result in adult sentences because the eight years given exceeds the maximum penalty a youth in Canada would receive for the same crime.

And since Canadian offenders can't serve both an adult and a youth sentence at the same time, Hughson argued a federal penitentiary sentence "prevails" because the sentence is above the minimum two-year provincial level.

Khadr's lawyer said he plans to appeal ....