Intelligence documents accidentally released to journalists by U.S. officials at a military hearing have cast further doubt on U.S. allegations against Canadian citizen Omar Khadr, the youngest prisoner at Guantanamo Bay. An unusual mix-up by U.S. officials resulted in the distribution of top-secret documents to courtroom reporters attending Omar Khadr’s hearing in February 2008.
New revelations outlined in intelligence documents have led lawyers for the Canadian citizen to call for all charges against Khadr to be dropped. U.S. officials have charged Khadr with murder, claiming that Khadr âe” 15 years old at the time âe” threw a hand-grenade that killed a U.S. soldier during a firefight occurring in the context of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2002.
Documents accidentally released include an interview with a U.S. intelligence agent who was at the scene of the battle, revealing that Khadr was shot twice âe” in the back âe” by the U.S. soldiers, a striking new detail in the case. An anonymous U.S. agent whose interview appears in the document additionally outlines that Khadr wasnâe(TM)t witnessed throwing the grenade and that âe” contrary to previous claims by U.S. military officials âe” Khadr was not the only person alive at the time U.S. forces stormed the building in Afghanistan.
Human rights organizations in Montreal and throughout Canada have appealed to the Canadian government to call for the repatriation of Khadr, an issue that successive Liberal and Conservative governments have failed to pick-up while in power.
Sameer Zuberi, the communications coordinator of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Canada (CAIR-Canada), outlines the current context of the case of Omar Khadr within the context of growing calls to shutdown the Guantanamo Bay military prison.
Stefan Christoff: First, can you explain why the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) has taken a position on the case of Canadian citizen Omar Khadr, currently held at Guantanamo Bay by the U.S. military?
Sameer Zuberi: It’s a matter of principle. It is clear that after the events of 9/11 there has been a focus on Canadian Muslims and Omar Khadr is a Canadian citizen who isn’t being fairly treated by U.S. authorities and this is why it’s important to stand up for Khadr.
At this point CAIR-Canada has contacted the Canadian government on the case, written a number of letters, while building a broad-based coalition in order to assert pressure on the government of Canada to demand the U.S. return Khadr. A trial should occur in a civilian court in Canada, not a U.S. military court at Guantanamo Bay.
This is a principled stand on the issue, given that Khadr is a Canadian citizen and Canadaâe(TM)s courts are competent to deal with the case and allegations at hand. However we should also keep in mind that new evidence is surfacing that shows a possibility of innocence.
Let’s talk about this new evidence. Recently, Khadr is once again making headlines in Canada. Can you talk about the new developments in the case that resulted from an accidentally leaked document from the U.S.
Khadr was first accused of fighting U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, at the age of 15, which is an age that would define Khadr as a child solider by international conventions. Child soldiers must be viewed as victims, not as violent aggressors, by international laws and international standards.
This is the context in which Khadr was apprehended or captured in. However, Khadr has been held in Guantanamo Bay for the past five years and is now over 21 years old and there are allegations of torture, that Khadr has been tortured under U.S. custody, that Khadr has been severely mistreated.
Until today, the Canadian government has not received Khadr’s medical file, which is reprehensible. A medical file from the U.S. could prove allegations of torture or alternatively claims from the U.S. that Khadr is being treated properly.
The latest revelation, to add to this situation, is that Khadr was twice shot in the back, which would potentially indicate that Khadr wasn’t a combatant within this fire-fight with U.S. forces. Also, U.S. soldiers have stated that additional enemy combatants âe” that is enemies to the U.S. âe” were alive at the time that Khadr was shot and eventually taken by the U.S. military. This new information dramatically changes the circumstances previously outlined by U.S. military authorities in the case, casting doubt on the original U.S. allegations.
Can you offer your reflections concerning the Canadian government’s position on Guantanamo Bay and specifically on the case of Khadr?
A number of individuals in government have called for the closure of Guantanamo Bay, while also others have signed a letter demanding that the government call for Khadr to be repatriated. Several MPs have gone on the record and called for Guantanamo Bay to be closed and for Khadr to be returned.
Today people in Canada must push for the governing party to call for Khadr to be returned to Canada and for Guantanamo Bay to be closed. Clearly Guantanamo Bay is illegal and unjust under international law.
This recent mishap in military court points perhaps to the secret nature of the current military trial against Khadr. Could you comment on the recent developments in this context?
What is clear is that secrecy is often used as a trump card to hide certain realities, or create an unfair portrayal of a particular case, not only in relation to Khadr but other important issues in Canada including “security certificates,” or the cases of Maher Arar and Abdullah al-Maliki.
In terms of the U.S., it’s clear that secrecy is used to hide information from the legal defence, in order to create legal conditions in which a proper defence canâe(TM)t be built. This isn’t what judicial process should be about, what a legal system should be about.
As a society it is necessary today to reflect on how necessary all these layers of secrecy are in terms of legal process, and to present difficult questions to the Canadian and U.S. governments concerning attempts to justify secrecy on the grounds of national security.
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