Amnesty International held a Free Omar Khadr event in Vancouver last week. It began with a vigil for the 22-year-old Canadian detainee followed by a speakers' forum.
Khadr has spent seven years in Guantanamo Bay. He is the only remaining westerner there.
International law stipulates minors should be rehabilitated, not prosecuted. The last child soldier prosecuted was in the 1940s following the Second World War.
Khadr was a 15-year-old accomplice to a group of Al Qaeda insurgents when he was captured.
He was in an Afghanistan Al Qaeda compound when it was bombarded by U.S. Special Forces. A firefight ensued.
Khadr lay motionless under rubble from the collapsed roof with shrapnel injuries to his eyes and legs. When discovered, a U.S. soldier shot him twice in the back.
The U.S. military report originally stated Khadr had been shot twice in the chest during the firefight exchange.
Khadr was charged with throwing the hand grenade at the end of the fight which killed one of the U.S. soldiers. It is possible the grenade, said to be American-made, was thrown by a U.S. soldier which bounced off the compound wall, killing his partner.
In critical condition, Khadr was brought to the American-operated prison in Bagram, Afghanistan. There three months, he was interrogated more than 50 times for up to eight hours a day.
Khadr claims he was threatened with dogs, hung by his wrists and put in stress positions while injured. He alleges a hood, placed over his head, was soaked with water until he started to suffocate. LED lights were shone in his injured eyes.
During his seven year imprisonment at "Gitmo", documents have surfaced showing American captors had threatened Khadr with rape, kept him isolated and deprived him of sleep.
He received three visits by Canadian officials beginning in 2003 which served U.S. interests rather than Khadr's Canadian rights.
After the first visit, Khadr claims he was short-shackled for hours and urinated on himself. Pine oil was then poured on his chest and the floor. He was then used as a mop and left in his soiled clothes for two days.
The Federal Court of Canada ruled this past April that the Canadian government try to return Khadr home.
An Ottawa parliamentary committee has approved an integrated social program with safeguards to repatriate Khadr. But our Canadian government is appealing our federal court's decision.
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