Monthly Archives: August 2015

Aug 27 2015

Please Donate to Help Challenge Bill-24

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association lawyers and Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers are taking the federal government to court (pro bono) to challenge Bill-24.

End Second-Class Citizenship.

Critics of the bill see it as another vindictive action by Harper which particularly targets Omar. The bill (came into law in June) allows the government to revoke Canadian citizenship from dual citizens and those who are eligible for dual citizenship. Since Omar’s father was Egyptian, he is eligible. The bill creates a 2 tier Canadian citizenship system and needs strong opposition. Please sign the BCCLA petition and contribute to their fundraising campaign. They have supported various speaking events we have had in Vancouver for Omar and would appreciate our help!

To see how you can help and donate please click the link: http://equalcitizens.nationbuilder.com/#video

Aug 6 2015

GUANTANAMO’S CHILD: OMAR KHADR | Trailer World Première, Toronto Film Festival 2015

The Untold Story Of Omar Khadr - documentary (80 min.)

Source Trailer: Toronto Film Festival 2015
Directors: Patrick Reed, Michelle Shephard
Cast: Omar Khadr

Omar Khadr is finally free, though on strict bail conditions while an appeal of his US military commission conviction is underway. He has been behind bars for the last 13 years, without any evidence of guilt. Many human rights issues in the case remain unresolved.
. 
a short history 
  • Omar (now 28) was born in Toronto.
  • In his youth, the family moved back and forth between Canada and Afghanistan, where his father worked as an aid worker,
  • On July 27, 2002, the house where his father had left Omar as a translator, was heavily bombed by U.S. forces. When found, barely alive under rubble, Omar was shot in the back and captured.
  • Months of brutal interrogations and torture followed during his captivity in Bagram.  Fifteen-year-old Omar was falsely accused and forced to confess to the killing of a U.S. soldier who fell during the battle.
  • October 2002, just 16, he was sent to Guantanamo, where he spent the next decade - often in solitary confinement.
  • On October 30, 2010, he was forced to plead guilty before a U.S. military commission in Guantanamo. He knew his only chance of getting out of there was to ‘confess’. The Guantanamo paradox: you had to lose to win. Those lucky enough to get charged and convicted got out.
  • The “crimes” he had to plead guilty to did not exist under Canadian, U.S. or international law. The Guantanamo court is not a real court as it is not internationally recognized. 
  • As a result, Omar is the only child ever convicted of a war crime and the only person convicted for any of the 7,000+ American casualties in the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. 
  • On September 26, 2012, he was repatriated to Canada and placed in a maximum security prison.
  • On May 7, 2015, after almost 13 years of wrongful imprisonment, he was finally released on bail, pending the appeal of his Guantanamo ‘conviction’.

Excerpt from Omar Khadr: Out of the Shadows - the 40 min. version of the documentary.