Omar Khadr’s pro bono lawyer wins prestigious Human Rights Award!

On International Human Rights Day:

Dennis Edney QC who has defended Omar Khadr on a pro bono basis for over a decade, wins the Gerald L. Gall Human Rights Award.  It is the highest honor one can receive from the John Humphrey Centre.

There are times in your life when something is so terribly wrong that to walk away is not an option” -Dennis Edney

Two excellent articles on Omar Khadr on the International Human Rights Day:

[+] Harper, International Human Rights Day and Nelson Mandela | Kathy Copps, Rabble.ca

[+] Khadr lawyer receives human rights award | Sheila Pratt, Edmonton Journal

 

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Omar Khadr appeals two court decisions

Appeal in the U.S. - Against the conviction in Guantanamo Military Court

Today, November 8, Omar and his lawyers filed an appeal in Washington, to fight his illegal conviction in a Military Court in Guantanamo, for the war crimes that didn’t exist under international law, when he was captured by the U.S. as a 15-year-old in Afghanistan in 2002. Therefor the military commission had no legal authority to try him or accept his guilty pleas. He pleaded guilty to the war crimes to get out of the Guantanamo Bay detention centre where he was held for 10 years.

Read more here:

  • Edmonton Journal: U.S. lawyer details his fight against Khadr’s war-crimes convictions
  • The Globe and Mail: Omar Khadr set to appeal war-crime convictions, incl. interview Sam Morison, Omar’s U.S. lawyer
  • The Canadian Press: Interview with Sam Morison, Omar’s U.S. lawyer about the appeal in U.S. court
  • The Star: Omar Khadr seeks to overturn Guantanamo conviction
  • The Star: Canada co-operated with U.S. in abusing Omar Khadr’s rights, lawsuit claims.
  • Phillips Gill, lawsuit claim: Omar Khadr: Why this case matters

Appeal in Canada - Against judge Rooke’s decision; that thwarts transfer from maximum-security federal prison to a provincial jail

On the 6th of November Omar and his lawyer filed an appeal against the Court of Queen’s Bench decision that denied his request to be transferred to a provincial jail. There he can finally receive appropriate rehabilitation. Dennis Edney states: “I am essentially arguing that the judge got it wrong in both fact and law”.
Omar’s detention in the Edmonton maximum-security institution is illegal because he was a child when captured by the U.S.. 

Read more here:

  • Edmonton Journal: Omar Khadr appeals court decision that keeps him in prison.
  • Macleans: Omar Khadr appeals ruling that denied his transfer from a maximum-security prison to a provincial jail.

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Politicians Speaking Out!

CONSERVATIVES

Tory MP shares government’s prejudices about Omar Khadr

In November 2013 we contacted Tory MP, Laurie Hawn, informing him about the latest facts of Omar’s case and asking when his government will stop using Omar Khadr as a political scapegoat to win votes. His unsubstantiated response adds to the government’s prejudicial rhetoric and shows his lack of knowledge about the case. Helen Sadowski of the Free Omar Khadr Now campaign explains the falsehoods in his letter point by point. … Continue reading .

GREEN PARTY OF CANADA

Green Party of Canada

Press Release Oct. 28, 2013 | Omar: An Abuse of Human Rights and International Law

Last Friday, Omar Khadr, a former child soldier, was denied a request to be moved to a provincial prison to serve out the remainder of his highly questionable sentence. “It is sadly evident that even after more than a year of his being back in Canada, programming has not been put in place that recognizes his right to treatment and support for all he suffered as a child soldier,” said Elizabeth May, MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands and Green Party of Canada Leader.

Omar Khadr will now remain in a maximum federal prison and will not likely be able to meet parole requirements. In spite of his desire to learn, he may also be denied the opportunity of education.

read more here: Press Release | Omar: An Abuse of Human Rights and International Law, Oct. 28, 2013 and Green Party | Backgrounder - Omar Khadr

 
Our response:

Dear Elizabeth May and the Green Party of Canada:

The Free Omar Khadr Committee would like to thank the Green Party-in particular Elizabeth May and Joe Foster-for yesterday’s media release which highlighted the recent denial of Omar Khadr’s court application, the highly inflammatory statements of Stephen Harper, and many of the shocking violations of Omar’s fundamental rights in a decade-long history of abuse. Your ongoing commitment to justice for this vulnerable young Canadian is much appreciated.

Our committee seeks to remind Canadians that our government has a legal duty to release Omar who has been illegitimately imprisoned (largely in solitary confinement) since 2002 when he was only 15 years old.

We urge the Green Party and all fair-minded Canadians to:

1. Demand the immediate release of Omar Khadr and ensure violations of his rights are investigated and remedied.

2. Protest against the Canadian authorities who wrongly claim that the illegal Guantanamo Bay sentencing gives them the right to continue to imprison Omar.

3. Condemn all prejudicial statements and shocking interference in a judicial process by government officials particularly Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Public Safety Minister Stephen Blaney, and former Public Safety Minister, Vic Toews.

Without independent, impartial courts and the equal application of laws, the rights of all citizens are threatened. The struggle for justice for Omar Khadr is in the interest of all Canadians and we are hopeful it will be a topic for the Green Party in the upcoming session of Parliament.

Sincerely,

Free Omar Khadr Now Committee

P.S. Thank you so much for including the website in your release! (www.freeomarakhadr.com)

SENATOR ROMEO DALLAIRE

[+] Speech on Omar Khadr in the Senate by LGen the Hon. Romeo Dallaire, Senator
[+] Petition Senator Dallaire | Bring back Omar Khadr from Guantanamo Bay

Dallaire has been an outspoken advocate for Omar’s rights, as former child soldier. In July 2012, Dallaire set up a petition putting pressure on Public Safety Minister, at that time, Vic Toews, to honour the plea bargain deal Khadr agreed to in 2010.
35,000 concerned citizens signed the petition. Omar was repatriated in September 2012.

“Omar has been 10 years in jail already, in a jail so many have considered illegal and inappropriate. He’s been tortured to get testimony out of him and through all that has seen no support whatsoever.
Now that he’s back in Canada the government should simply clam up. It has no more duty in regards to this individual. He’s now within the process of our judicial system and in that context the executive has no right to interfere in the judicial process.” ~Dallaire, Sept. 2012.

LIBERALS

“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. He 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.” ~Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, Aug. 2013, Halifax.
Trudeau isn’t ruling out compensation for Omar for the time he served in Guantanamo Bay.

[+] Official Statement by Liberal Leader Bob Rae on Omar’s repatriation, Sept. 2012.

“Mr. Khadr, a Canadian citizen, was a child soldier. It is extremely unfortunate that it took the Conservative government this long to fulfil its responsibility to bring him back to Canada. Now Mr. Khadr will serve the remainder of his sentence under the supervision of the Canadian correctional system, and we can ensure that he receives proper treatment and rehabilitation.” ~Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae, Sept. 2012

“The over-the-top rhetoric that we’ve come to expect from this minister of Public Safety is most unfortunate, I hope it doesn’t influence the parole board’s deliberations.” ~Liberal MP Sean Casey, Sept. 2012.

NDP

ndp“Today, the Conservatives ended nearly a decade of unnecessary delays and allowed Omar Khadr to serve out the remainder of his sentence in Canada. Canada is the last Western country to repatriate their citizens from the discredited Guantanamo prison system.
Mr. Khadr’s return to Canada was inevitable, yet the Conservatives chose to drag this process out for years at great cost to taxpayers. Their mishandling has hurt our relationship with the United States, our closest ally, and tarnished Canada’s reputation on the international stage.
Both the Supreme Court of Canada and the U.S. Supreme Court, based on the full facts of this case, have found that the military commission proceedings in Guantanamo violated both U.S. domestic law and Canada’s international human rights obligations.
Conservatives have previously faced court judgments against them for their mishandling of the case and failure to respect human rights.
The government should now allow Mr. Khadr to be handled by Canadian authorities in accordance with Canadian law, free from interference.” ~[+] Official Statement from NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar on Omar’s repatriation, Sept. 2012.

“This government decided to play politics with a straightforward foreign affairs case. Rather than simply bringing its citizen home from Guantanamo Bay as other countries did, they tried to polarize and turn this into something else.
They’ve obviously screwed up massively when it comes to this case, so hopefully they won’t do any further damage when it comes to our reputation as a country.” ~NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar, Sept 2012.

“Mr. Khadr was the only Western citizen left in Guantanamo. And that’s because other countries, Australia for instance and others, had repatriated their citizens back to their countries. We had not done that, we had foot dragged. We’d frankly been pushed in the end by the Americans to take him back. The Conservatives were very stubborn on returning Khadr to Canada, not living up to their responsibility to deal with one of our citizens. Khadr’s prolonged detainment in Guantanamo Bay has already been established as a human rights violation and now the government should explain why they resisted bringing him back to Canada. The question now is, what’s the government’ s explanation for having waited so long to have him come home? Just what was it that made the government so intransigent on this issue? That’s going to be an issue for the next number of months for us to delve into” ~NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar, CTV News Sept 2012.

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Lecture Nov 12 | Attorney Samuel Morison, US Department of Defence

The last in the series of three lectures in Edmonton about Omar Khadr.

OMAR KHADR | THE LAWMorison

With:     Attorney Samuel Morison, US Department of Defence
When:   Tuesday, November 12, 19:00
Where:  The Atrium at King’s University College, 9125 – 50 Street, Edmonton

Samuel Morison has practiced law for more than 20 years and is a national recognized expert on federal executive clemency and the restoration of civil rights. He will speak about Omar Khadr’s appeal before the US Federal Court.

[+] the poster of the lectures

[+] the video of the second lecture, by Brigadier General (ret) Dr. Stephen Xenakis