Re: Canada to pay $10.5m to youngest Guantanamo inmate, convicted of killing US soldi
??? Can you break out how that would have worked?
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cpwill:
Omar Khadr, a fifteen-year-old boy was brought to Afganistan by his father and with his older brother was armed by Afghan militants/al Qaeda.
In a skirmish Omar Khadr was wounded and captured by US SOF operators. In the course of that skirmish Khadr allegedly threw a grenade which wounded two or three US SOF operators one of whom later died of his wounds.
Having taken the minor Omar Khadr into custody, the US rendered him out of Afghanistan and to Guantanamo Bay in order to detain and interrogate him there in contravention of US and international law.
During his time in Gitmo, Khadr was put under severe distress and both physically and mentally coerced in order to break his will and get him to confess to killing and wounding two American soldiers. After many years in US military custody and under duress he finally broke down and agreed to a forced confession in return for a chance to be returned to Canada.
The Government of Canada was aware that Khadr was a Canadian citizen, a minor, that he was being illegally detained after being unlawfully rendered, was being put under distress and duress and was being denied basic legal rights and proper legal representation. The Canadian Government did not move to protect Khadr and in fact colluded with US authorities to keep Khadr unlawfully imprisoned at Gitmo and out of Canada for ten years. It thus abjured its duty to protect Khadr as a Canadian citizen and a minor.
When Khadr was finally forced to confess to murder in a desperate hope of being returned to Canada to serve out his sentence there, the Canadian Government blocked and stone-walled his return, despite Canadian court orders to allow the transfer.
When Khadr had been repatriated, his lawyers claimed that he had been forced to confess and was thus wrongfully convicted by a US military tribunal. They applied for bail until a Canadian trial could be held to determine the legality of the US military tribunal conviction, given that at the time of the alleged crime Khadr was a minor and should have been treated like a child soldier. The court agreed and ordered his release. The Government of Canada unlawfully refused to comply with the court order and subsequent orders from higher courts to release Khadr.
For the reasons listed above Omar Khadr sued the Government of Canada. The amount asked for was in the neighbourhood of 20 millions of dollars CAD but could have reached as high as 50 million with punitive damages. A settlement was mediated where by Canada would pay 10.5 millions to Khadr for compensation and legal expenses.
That's the breakdown as I understand it, in a nutshell.
Cheers.
Evilroddy.
