Bizarre Criminal Record for Guantanamo Bay Youth Survivor

Omar Khadr's criminal record in Canada shows 'absolute ignorance,' lawyer says

Document refers to conviction by Guantanamo Bay 'youth court,' refers erroneously to concurrent sentences

By Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press 

Omar Khadr was released from prison in 2015 pending an appeal of his U.S. conviction,

which could take several more years. (Terry Reith/CBC)

Omar Khadr's official criminal record in Canada contains oddities and errors that are at odds with how the federal government viewed him on his return from the notorious prison on the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The record, obtained by The Canadian Press, makes no reference to the fact that Khadr, 30, was convicted by an internationally condemned U.S. military commission for purported offences he committed as a 15-year-old in Afghanistan.

Instead, the document states only that he was convicted at "Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (Youth Court)." It makes no reference anywhere to the United States or the commission.

While it's not clear when the record was first created, Khadr's Canadian lawyers call it bizarre. For one thing, they note there's no such thing as a Guantanamo Bay youth court.

However, despite the document, the Canadian government argued strenuously for years against treating Khadr as a young offender — placing him, for example, in a series of maximum security adult prisons on his return to Canada in September 2012.

I voted for Stephen Harper in every election he participated in and would again. Not because I like him, but because I like his opponents even less. Harper did a lot of things that I disliked intensely and leaving this kid hang out to dry was one of them. 

His mother and sisters are radicalized and should never be trusted, but Omar certainly appears to me to be as honest and sincere a person as there is. How he became such a person after enduring so many years in Guantanamo is worth a closer look. I hope he writes is story.

Additionally, the lawyers say, the record appears to formalize the fact that Khadr was convicted as a youth for alleged crimes that occurred in a war zone, which would make him a child soldier — a label the government has also always avoided.

No youth court in Guantanamo

Dennis Edney, one of Khadr's lawyers, who was initially unaware of the document, expressed profound surprise at its contents.

"There's not such a being as a criminal youth court in Guantanamo," Edney said from Edmonton. "Why would you do that? Internationally, the place was condemned because it didn't distinguish between Omar being a child and Omar being an adult."

The Americans captured the horrifically wounded Khadr in the rubble of a bombed out compound in Afghanistan in July 2002 following a fierce firefight that left an American special forces soldier dead and another partly blinded.

In October 2010, the Canadian citizen pleaded guilty to five war crimes before a military commission at Guantanamo Bay, and was handed an eight-year sentence. The Toronto-born Khadr, who has long maintained the Americans tortured him during his lengthy captivity, later said he only pleaded guilty so he could return to Canada.

Omar Khadr is shown in a Guantanamo Bay interrogation room in this image taken from a 2003 surveillance video. (Handout/Canadian Press)

Edney said it's important people understand the context of the convictions — something sorely lacking in the official record.

"It shows absolute ignorance. It misstates itself in a very fundamental way," Edney said. "It shows no understanding of what Guantanamo is (and) demands an explanation as to why it is so described."

Concurrent sentences?

The RCMP document also erroneously states that Khadr was sentenced to five concurrent eight-year terms for each of his five charges. In fact, Canadian courts have ruled Khadr was handed a single eight-year sentence on all counts.

Co-counsel Nate Whitling, who also had not seen the document, called it unsurprising Khadr has a record in Canada given his transfer here to serve out his sentence. But Whitling still called it "weird." He noted there's no such thing as a concurrent sentence at Guantanamo Bay, and suggested Canadian authorities had "tried to fit a square peg into a round hole."

Khadr's lawyers say his conviction record should not enjoy legal recognition in Canada given that it has no reference to a legitimate court in a foreign country but arises out of military commissions that were set up to avoid U.S. constitutional scrutiny. Still, the criminal record could have an impact on Khadr, who hopes to study nursing, when he applies in the future for employment.

Barney Brucker, the Justice Department's lead lawyer on the Khadr file, did not respond to a request for information. Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale was not immediately available to comment on Monday.

Khadr was granted bail in Alberta in 2015 pending an ongoing appeal of his U.S. conviction — a process that will likely take several more years at least. The appeal rests on the fact that he was convicted for acts that were not crimes at the time he did them.

Anti-Migrant Soldiers of Odin Patrol Estonian Streets

Estonian Defense Ministry doesn't want anti-migrant groups patrolling streets

© Sam KIingsley / AFP

Activists who want to make the streets of Estonian cities safer should address the national police volunteer organization instead of joining anti-migrant patrols organized by suspicious organizations with questionable aims, the country’s defense minister said.

The organization Soldiers of Odin that first emerged in Finland is now also gaining popularity in Estonia. According to the Delfi media outlet, its members are planning to conduct regular street patrols to keep a close eye on refugees. 

The country has received fewer than 1,000 since the 1990s, and none of the current EU-established quota of 550.

According to open data on Facebook, there are up to 5,000 members of Soldiers of Odin in Estonia. Some of them, Eesti Päevaleht newspaper reports, are high-ranking military officials and members of Kaitseliit (Defense Union), Estonia’s volunteer paramilitary unit and an integral part of the national military.

Estonia’s Minister of Defense Hannes Hanso has spoken against the members of the national military joining groups with “unclear goals.”

Law enforcement functions should be reserved for state structures, Hanso said.

“Those eager to contribute to the security of the society should side with police voluntary helpers, which stand guard over the values of democratic society, have fulfilled the necessary training and have no criminal past,” the minister said.

Hanso made a point that every serviceman and Kaitseliit member has sworn to protect the Estonian state and all of its citizens not selectively but as a whole entity, stressing that patrols of self-proclaimed groups would never help to ensure the feeling of safety of the citizens, and lead “rather to the contrary.”

When the Soldiers of Odin opened a subsidiary office in Tallinn, they announced the preconditions for those wanting to join the organization: the potential recruits must be above 18-years-old, and neither be Muslim nor an “all talk couch warrior.”

The group insists that a member should not have a criminal record of proven violence against women and children, although other convictions are not as relevant.

The group plans to form squads of 10-20 vigilantes to patrol rough parts of Estonian cities, Eesti Päevaleht reports. The group has  Muslim refugees’ violations of order top on its agenda, but it is not their only concern.

The Soldiers of Odin group is planning to hold a presentation torchlight procession on February 24.