Monthly Archives: May 2017

May 25 2017

Roger Waters endorses our Petition! - ‘Canada’s Obligation to Omar Khadr’

Roger Waters endorses our petition!

Roger Waters, is not only former lead singer, bassist and ​songwriter for the iconic English rock bank Pink Floyd, he ​is also a ​active​ supporter of Palestinian ​human rights and ​outspoken critic of Guantanamo U.S. military prison.
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As co-founder​ of the London-based Close Guantanamo Campaign Roger is aware of the monumental abuse the U.S. military has inflicted on former detainees, our obligation to redress the violation of their rights, and the need to free those who are still languishing in Guantanamo prison.

Although our petition is only open to Canadians, Roger joins our call on the Canadian government to fulfill our moral and legal obligation to Omar.
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Roger’s latest tour Us + Them begins May 27th. Check the schedule​ ​for concerts in Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton​, final performance in Vancouver-and cities all over the U.S..

Come out and thank him for his dedication and commitment to justice-and great music!

Join our action! Please sign and help distribute our petition.

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Thank you!

The Free Omar Khadr Now Committee

May 22 2017

Elizabeth May endorses our Petition ‘Canada’s Obligation to Omar Khadr’

Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada, endorses our petition ‘Canada’s Obligation to Omar Khadr’ and calls on our government  to provide a sincere apology to Omar and offer a just remedy for the monstrous injustice he suffered.

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Ms May’s support for Omar goes back to the struggle for his repatriation. In 2013, two years before Omar’s release from an Alberta prison, the Green Party issued a press release:
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‘Omar an A​buse of Human Rights and International Law’:
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“…T​he Canadian courts have, over the years, been reliable in ruling in Omar’s favour in various challenges highlighting human rights concerns in his case, including two Supreme Court judgments. Canada’s Federal Court found on 23 April 2020 that “Mr. Khadr’s detention in Guantanamo Bay was illegal under both U.S. and international law.”
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On 14 August 2009, the Federal Court of Appeal found his treatment to be: “…a breach of international human rights law respecting the treatment of detainees under the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment.” The denial of a fair trial violates the Geneva Conventions, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Canada’s Geneva Convention Act, and Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Act.​…”​

Please sign and help distribute our petition.

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May 18 2017

Gar Pardy endorses our Petition – ‘Canada’s Obligation to Omar Khadr’

Former Director General of Canadian Consular Services says the government of Canada acted maliciously toward Omar Khadr and owes him an apology and compensation.

Gar Pardy, a former Canadian ambassador and former Director General of Canadian Consular Services (1992-2003) endorses our petition.  Mr. Pardy has first hand information of the details of Omar’s case and has been outspoken about the misrepresentation Omar and his family received from successive Canadian governments. For a critical understanding of the case read Mr. Pardy’s “The Long Way Home: the Omar Khadr Saga” in the remarkable 2012 anthology: Omar Khadr, Oh Canada (edited by Janice Williamson). 

Gar Pardy:

“I have been assisting Omar Khadr and other members of his family since 1996.  In the intervening years Omar and other members of his family have encountered overt discriminatory actions by Canadian governments based on erroneous and malevolently interpreted information. Omar has been the most seriously affected by these actions and in the fifteen years since his imprisonment in Afghanistan and subsequent transfer to the American prison at Guantanamo Bay he was abused and tortured by the government of the United States.  In this the government of Canada acted maliciously, denying him the assistance he had every right to expect.  An  apology and compensation is long overdue and it is to be hoped that both will occur in the coming days.”

Please sign and help distribute our petition.

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May 17 2017

Archbishop Desmond Tutu: “The case of Omar Khadr is an example of horrible injustice in a modern democratic state”

In May 2014, a year before Omar was released on bail from an Alberta prison, he received a phone call from Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Desmond Tutu is a vocal critic of Guantanamo and the U.S. military commission which ‘convicted” Omar. Tutu compares it to similar practices of detention without trial in South Africa under apartheid: “Many people were incarcerated for endless periods, held in solitary confinement simply on the say so of some lackey of an unjust and oppressive system.”

Regarding Omar’s case, Archbishop Tutu later stated:

“The case of Omar Khadr is an example of horrible injustice in a modern democratic state. Omar Khadr was not even tried in an open court, and this is apart from the fact that when he was arrested, he was only 15 years of age-a minor by every credible assessment. It is unconscionable that following a travesty of a trial, where he was treated as adult in a vicious kangaroo court, his own country was an accomplice in holding him in prison.

It has been galling in the extreme to discover that those in other countries, who even helped us overthrow our oppressive system of apartheid, should have no qualms, it seems, to employ the same discredited methods as those of a system they purported to oppose.”

Desmond Tutu recognises that Omar Khadr suffered a horrible injustice by Canada, a modern democratic state.

Call on the federal government to fulfill our legal and moral obligation to Omar.

Please sign and share our petition:

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Thank you!

The Free Omar Khadr Now campaign