Aisha Maniar set up the London Guantánamo Campaign in 2006, which has campaigned tirelessly since for the closure of Guantánamo and other similar US-run facilities, an end to the practice of extraordinary rendition, and in particular the return of all remaining British residents to the United Kingdom. The campaign has worked with the families of prisoners and other torture victims of the war on terror and has focused on the case of Omar Khadr since his 2010 trial.

“The injustice of Omar Khadr being the first person to be ‘tried’ under President Obama’s kangaroo court military commissions was difficult to conceive. It was a case tainted by torture evidence and as Omar was tried as an adult for ‘offences’ allegedly ‘committed’ as a minor it was sending out a dangerous message to others in his position. At the very same time, in Europe, an octogenarian former Nazi prison guard was on trial in a youth court for crimes he was alleged to have committed more than half a century ago.

That Canada and the rest of the international community would just sit back and let the US act in this way was beyond wrong. Before Omar Khadr became a cause célèbre in his native Canada, we were demanding his rights outside the US Embassy in London. We continued to demand that Canada then seek his repatriation after it refused to initially.

Our faith in supporting Omar Khadr’s case and our continuing support for his right to justice were vindicated with his release to Canada, and later on bail. He has proved himself to be a friendly and respectful young man and an asset to any society. He works hard to make up for lost time in the education he missed out on and is pursuing a career that cares for and helps people regardless of who they are.

Canada should be proud of Omar Khadr and ashamed of itself and its inability to redress some of the wrongs it has done to Omar after so many years. Taking positive action would be a small but decisive step for Justin Trudeau.”

​Please sign the petition and remind the federal government of Canada’s moral and legal obligation to offer redress for the atrocious violations of Omar Khadr’s rights.

Thank you!

The Free Omar Khadr Now Committee