3 Acid Attacks Reported Every Week in London

Resham Khan © Gofundme

London witnesses up to three acid attacks every week, LBC has found, saying the Metropolitan Police recorded up to 83 incidents just this year.

The report from the London based radio station comes after aspiring model and business student Resham Khan was attacked last month while sitting in her car with her cousin Jameel Muhktar.

The incident, which happened on the day Khan turned 21, saw the two attacked with sulphuric acid while stuck in traffic.

The Metropolitan Police is investigating the attack as a hate crime, and has just released new pictures of suspected attacker John Tomlin, 24.

Three days after the attack, Khan, who is set to receive £30,000 (US$38,500) in donations after a fundraising campaign was launched for her following the horrifying attack, said on Twitter: "I'm devastated. I keep wondering if my life will ever be the same."

Another acid attack victim is now calling for the law to treat acid attacks as it does knife attacks.

Imran Khan had acid squirted on his face as he was delivering pizza in Dagenham, east London, last November.

He told LBC that the law fails to do enough to punish those responsible.

"I actually ID-ed the guy and he got arrested. But the police took no further action as there was 'insufficient evidence',” he told LBC.

"I've seen him today. When I went to go to the shops, he was hanging around in the same place. He grins at me. He's literally got away with it.

"If someone wants to stab you, they've got to come close to you,” he added. “But with acid, they could be standing 2 meters away and just squash the bottle. “It will do the same amount of damage."

Up to 300,000 people have signed a petition to make it unlawful to buy acid without a license.

Sarmad Ismail, who started the petition, outlined how easy it is to buy acid online and said: “You put sulphuric acid into Google and the results that come up are 'Concentrated acid neutraliser', '2.5l or Sulphuric acid 96%', which is £11.95 and will be delivered to your door.

"And what comes to your door can completely destroy a life. There should be checks in place, especially on these websites. There should be licencing.”

He agreed with Khan’s claim that acid attacks are just as bad as knife attacks, telling LBC reporter Rachael Venables: "It's just as bad as carrying a knife around because if you spray that substance on someone's face, it will cause lasting damage for years to come."

Scores of protesters gathered in east London on Thursday to protest over the recent string of acid attacks in the capital, as well as the growing Islamophobia.

Hate crimes in London have increased five-fold following the terrorist attack on London Bridge and Borough Market, according to figures released by the city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan.

Berlin Metro Attacker Jailed for Booting Woman Down Stairs in Horror Assault

The 28-year-old man who sparked internet outrage after leaked footage showed him kicking a woman down the stairs of a Berlin metro station has been jailed for nearly three years.

Identified only as ‘Svetoslav S.’, the man was sentenced to two years and 11 months in prison after he was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm by a German court.

Police appealed for witnesses to the October 2016 attack by releasing footage of a young woman being kicked down the stairs of Hermannstrasse U-Bahn station. She suffered a broken arm and head injuries.

Svetoslav admitted to kicking the woman in court, but maintained that he had no memory of the incident as he was under the influence of alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and crystal meth at the time.

The Bulgarian apologized to his victim in court and insisted he only became aware of the incident after watching the footage online like everyone else. “I found it horrible myself when I saw it,” he said, reports Süddeutsche Zeitung.

The sentence was less than the three years and nine months sought by the prosecution after Svetoslav has found to not have full control over his emotions or decisions.

The court heard from his wife, who claimed the pair had fought that night, and Svetoslav had struggled to control his aggression and drug dependency since a car crash in 2008 left him badly injured.

A psychiatric expert testified that Svetoslav suffered a serious head injury in the crash and had reduced culpability as a result of the alcohol and drug abuse. The expert also claimed Svetoslav had an IQ of 63, classifying him as intellectually impaired and unable to control his emotions.

Then you add drugs and alcohol and his IQ was probably closer to half that. Mind you, use of drugs and alcohol should not diminish responsibility or reduce culpability. When we choose to use alcohol or drugs, we are choosing to reduce our mental and emotional capabilities.

Justice Delayed is Justice Denied, for Victims in Canada

'Failing everyone': 204 cases tossed over delays since

Supreme Court's Jordan decision

Legal observers call on governments to make drastic and urgent changes

to fix sluggish court system

By Laura Kane, The Canadian Press 

204 cases have been tossed since the Supreme Court of Canada imposed time limits for trials in the

'Jordan' ruling one year ago. (Mike dePaul/CBC)

More than 200 criminal cases across the country have been tossed due to unreasonable delays since the Supreme Court of Canada's landmark Jordan decision one year ago, court data shows.

The cases include murders, sexual assaults, drug trafficking and child luring, all stayed by judges because the defendant's constitutional right to a timely trial was infringed.

While provinces and the federal government have taken steps over the past year to speed up Canada's sluggish courts, legal observers say more drastic and urgent changes are needed.

"Not nearly enough has been done by the government in order to repair this crumbling system," said Rick Woodburn, president of the Canadian Association of Crown Counsel.

"Until the government views the justice system as a priority, we'll continue to see murderers set free."

Advocates say governments must provide more funding for every facet of the system, including judges, Crown attorneys, legal aid and infrastructure. Ottawa is also being urged to reverse decisions made under the previous Conservative government to expand mandatory minimum sentences and to close three of six RCMP forensic labs in the country.

Crown attorney Rick Woodburn says the 

government must do more to fix the 

"crumbling" court system. (CBC)

The Jordan decision, as it has come to be known, was issued on July 8, 2016, when the high court ruled the drug convictions in British Columbia of Barrett Richard Jordan must be set aside due to unreasonable delay.

In a 5-4 ruling, the court said the old means of determining whether proceedings had taken too long were inadequate. Under the new framework, unreasonable delay was to be presumed if proceedings topped 18 months in provincial court or 30 months in superior court.

1,766 applications for stays

In a dissenting opinion, a minority called the new framework unwarranted and unwise, warning it could lead to thousands of prosecutions being thrown out.

The Canadian Press requested data from all 10 provinces, three territories and the Public Prosecution Service of Canada to examine the impacts to the country's justice system from the groundbreaking decision. The latest figures made available by various governments date from April 30 to June 30.

Since the ruling, approximately 1,766 applications have been filed for charges to be stayed because of unreasonable delays.

Of those, 204 have been granted and 333 have been dismissed. The remainder are either still before the courts, have been abandoned by the defence or were resolved on other grounds.

Still more charges have been proactively stayed by the Crown due to the expectation they would not survive a Jordan application, including 67 by the Public Prosecution Service of Canada.

Heidi Illingworth, executive director of the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime, said 200 cases tossed over delays was "shocking" and very painful for victims and their loved ones.

System 'failing everyone'

"The system is failing everyone. It's failing victims, it's failing accused, it's failing everyone who is working in it," she said.

"We can't have this situation where the public lacks faith in the justice system, and that's what we're starting to see happen."

Determining whether stays have increased since Jordan is challenging because most provinces did not track applications based on the previous framework for determining unreasonable delay.

Ontario reported that 65 stays were granted due to delays in the fiscal year 2015-16, meaning the number increased slightly after Jordan to 76.

Manitoba said no unreasonable-delay applications were successful between January 2015 and June 2016, but two had been granted since the Jordan ruling.

A study conducted at Dalhousie University in Halifax shows both applications and stays went up after the decision. In the six months before Jordan, 26 stays were granted out of 69 applications, while in the six months afterward, 51 stays were granted out of 101 applications.

Eric Gottardi, the Vancouver lawyer who brought Jordan's case to the Supreme Court, said the impact of the decision will not be fully known for three to five years.

The court provided transitional exceptions for cases that were already in the system before Jordan. The Crown can argue the time the case has taken is justified based on the parties' reliance on the previous law.

Public outrage 'understandable'

Gottardi said it's unacceptable for a serious case to get to the point where a judge thinks it must be tossed, and the outrage felt by victims, families and the public is completely understandable.

"The focus of the anger should be towards the government, in my view, not towards the courts," he said. "There's myriad reasons why it got to that point, and most of them have to do with infrastructure and funding."

Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould said there are a number of solutions to delays and she expects to introduce reforms in the fall. She also said her government remains committed to reviewing mandatory minimum sentences.

Despite a raft of new appointments, there are still 49 vacancies of federally appointed judges across the country, and more than a dozen vacancies of provincially appointed judges.

Bill Trudell, chairman of the Canadian Council of Criminal Defence Lawyers, said the Jordan decision has sent an "electric shock" through the justice system.

He said he thought the decision went too far, but it has been a catalyst for positive change.

"It's like a protest. Good things may come from protests, even though you might not like the protest at the time."

Provinces have brought in new procedures to speed up the justice system. Here's a look at some of the initiatives provinces have undertaken:

Quebec

Quebec is investing $175-million over four years to recruit new judges, prosecutors, legal aid lawyers and support staff and create new courtrooms. So far, 449 positions have been filled and several new hearing rooms are operational. Justice Minister Stephanie Vallee recently announced an additional $9 million to hire 47 legal aid workers. The province has also launched a pilot program to allow for alternatives to incarceration, such as community service, in some minor offences.

Quebec Minister of Justice and Attorney General Stéphanie Vallée wants the government to create eight new Superior Court justice positions and two additional Appeal Court judge positions. (Justin Tan/Canadian Press)

Vallee is also calling on the federal government to create eight new Superior Court justice positions and two additional Appeal Court judge positions, but Ottawa has not done so yet.

Ontario

Ontario Attorney General Yasir Naqvi said in an interview the Jordan decision is a "game-changer" and a call to action for all levels of government. He said the province has added 13 judges, 32 assistant Crown attorneys and a number of other staff.

Ontario has also focused on streamlining the front-end of the system with a number of initiatives aimed at better serving individuals with mental health issues, addictions and unstable housing. It has expanded provincewide a program that facilitates the release of low-risk accused into the community pending trial, as well as launched a new "bail beds" program that provides supervised housing for vulnerable accused. It has also developed a program to provide supports to Indigenous people who are accused of a crime.

British Columbia

B.C.'s Supreme Court recently issued new directions for so-called "mega-trials," or large or complex criminal cases that have the potential to occupy a significant amount of court time or risk delays. The directions call for a case management judge to be appointed early in the process and for tight time limits for disclosure, pre-trial applications and the trial itself.

Associate Chief Justice Austin Cullen said in an interview the court began reviewing complex trial procedures about 18 months before the Jordan decision. But he said the ruling helped "spur us on and made us realize that we're doing something useful."

B.C.'s government tasked lawyer Geoffrey Cowper in 2012 with writing a report on its justice system, in which he identified a "culture of delay." In November 2016, Cowper said B.C. was on the road to recovery. A major initiative he cited was B.C.'s use of administrative law to move tens of thousands of drunk-driving charges out of provincial court.

Nova Scotia

Chris Hansen, with Nova Scotia's Public Prosecution Service, said the province is being "fairly aggressive" in dealing with Jordan. It has established a criminal justice transformation group with the sole purpose of addressing delays. Every criminal case has a "Jordan ticker," so that when participants access material online, they can clearly see the number of months since the information was laid. Hansen also said the courts have increased their use of technology with video conferencing and electronic disclosure.

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan's Public Prosecutions said most cases in the province finish within the time limit and exceptional events are often the cause in the small number of cases that don't. Nonetheless, it said it's implementing further strategies to move every case along as quickly as possible. These include focusing on expediting disclosure, assessing cases as early as is workable, removing cases that do not meet the prosecution standard, and working to resolve cases as soon as possible.

With files from Brett Bundale, Sidhartha Banerjee, Joanna Smith, Allison Jones, Lauren Krugel and Geordon Omand 

Maduro 'Supporters' Storm Parliament Injuring Lawmakers

Venezuela lawmakers injured in protesters'

attack on parliament

By Doug G. Ware  

Venezuelan deputies Luis Stefanelli (L) and Jose Regnault (R) stand in a corridor of the National Assembly Wednesday after a clash with demonstrators in Caracas. A group of supporters of President Nicolas Maduro stormed the parliament on Venezuelan independence day. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez/EPA

UPI -- Several Venezuelan lawmakers were injured Wednesday when supporters of President Nicolas Maduro stormed the legislature on the country's national day of independence.

Demonstrators took their protest inside the opposition-controlled National Assembly in Caracas to air grievances that continue to divide the country.

Authorities said several lawmakers were injured in the skirmishes. Some reporters said they were also attacked.

National Assembly President Julio Borges said at least seven legislative staffers and five parliament members were injured.

The clashes occurred as the national lawmaking body is discussing a plebiscite set for July 16 regarding the future of Maduro as Venezuela's president -- an issue at the center of monthslong fighting in Caracas amid the nation's ongoing economic and political crisis.

Officials said the violent clashes Wednesday won't impact discussions about the upcoming plebiscite, which will seek public input about Maduro's future and his rewrite of the Venezuelan Constitution.

The storming of the assembly occurred on Venezuela's national day of independence, July 5, from Spain in 1811.

This was certainly not a spontaneous uprising by the people of Venezuela. This is clearly an attack on democracy by Maduro. He is trying to intimidate parliament into backing down on the plebiscite. 

Would-be Migrant Held for Ransom in Libya Regrets Attempt to Reach Europe

'I will never try it again'

6,000-7,000 undocumented migrants in detention in Libya, UN says

By Anna Cunningham, CBC News 

Animals scavenge on mounds of garbage in Oworonshoki, a slum on the edge of Lagos, Nigeria. Oluwaseun Femi Ijitola, 34, risked his life to escape this place to try to make a better life for his wife and five-year-old daughter. (Anna Cunningham/CBC)

​The ground is thick with mud and sewage. Wooden planks and tires scatter the slum, making a precarious pathway.

"We have to walk," says Oluwaseun Femi Ijitola, a 34-year-old taxi driver known as Seun. "No vehicle can pass through."

There is a look of shame in his eyes as he surveys this forgotten corner of Lagos.

On the water's edge of Nigeria's largest city, in the neighbourhood of Oworonshoki, people live in dire poverty with no sanitation, electricity or any other facilities, in ramshackle shanties covered with dirty tarpaulin and cardboard that barely keeps out the seasonal rains.

The local church in Oworonshoki. (Anna Cunningham/CBC)

Chickens, goats and dog scavenge on mounds of garbage. Empty plastic bottles float on the tide of the Lagos Lagoon.

This is what Ijitola risked his life to escape when he became one of the hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants attempting to cross the Sahara desert to get to Europe and the hope of a better life. 

"I have a dream of schooling abroad, and that is why I went to Libya," he says.

A local elder stops to question us. Strangers don't come here unless they are officials sent to evict people, he says suspiciously.

Ijitola says the area is "very, very rough and tough" and unlocks a tiny padlock to his wooden shack. His wife and five-year-old daughter aren't here. 

"I sent them to be with the mother-in-law," he says. "I cannot feed them."

​Local "area boys" — as the criminal gangs that extort money and mete out casual violence are known — loiter outside, smoking marijuana and drinking beer.

"I won't be able to sleep here tonight," Ijitola says. "They will give me hassle."

Treacherous desert crossing

For Ijitola, the decision to leave Nigeria arose from a mundane problem: his car — the family's only source of income — broke down. In late 2016 he decided it was time to seek a better life.

He used what little money had to head north, taking a well-worn route. He took a bus more than 1,100 kilometres to Kano, in northern Nigeria, and from there across the border into Niger.

Children play amongst sewage and debris in the Lagos slum. (Anna Cunningham/CBC)

In Agadez, a transit town on the fringes of the Sahara that has become a staging post for the legions desperate to leave Africa, he paid traffickers to be taken on the treacherous crossing to Libya.

"It was tough. The sun was too much," he recalled. "We spent five days inside the desert without eating, only drink water, water, water. Anytime we finish, we needed more."

Crammed into a truck with many others, and with temperatures nearing 50 C during the day, he reached Libya and believed he was closer to his dream.

But his real nightmare had only just begun. In Sebha, nearly 800 kilometres from the capital, Tripoli, the driver sold them all to a man called Ali, who would then demand money for their release.

'They used to beat us every day'

There has been mounting concern from humanitarian agencies over Libya's makeshift prisons full of undocumented migrants who then become victims of human traffickers.

The prisons are divided into "ghettos," Ijitola says.  He was in the Nigeria ghetto, where he met people from countries all across West and Central Africa.

(International Organization for Migration)

Women raped

Women, who were held separately, were forced to sell themselves to their captors to get food, Ijitola says. "Those that refused the guards were raped," he says, his voice trailing off.

Violence was commonplace: "They used to beat us every day. Day by day they flog us with a pipe" — a practice referred to as giving the prisoners "morning tea," he says. 

Ijitola's story is increasingly common, says Richard Danzinger, of the International Organization for Migration.

The UN body estimates that some 6,000-7,000 undocumented migrants are in detention facilities throughout Libya, where law and order has broken down since the fall of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

The IOM says the majority of illegal migrants to Europe come through the central Mediterranean route, via Libya: more than 100,000 in 2016, and already more than 85,000 so far this year.

Ijitola was picked up by Libyan authorities before he could attempt the crossing to Italy.

He was sent back to Nigeria. (Anna Cunningham/CBC)

West African governments watch as their young people are being lost to ruthless people-smugglers, who often also have links to organized crime networks involved in the smuggling of arms and drugs.

$500 ransom paid

Seun's horrific ordeal lasted four long months. During that time he watched others die and thought he'd be next.

His freedom came at a price of $500, a sum his captors wanted deposited directly into their Nigerian bank account. His wife back in Lagos sold their broken car. The man who bought it borrowed the cash after hearing Seun being beaten during a phone call. 

Seun had already paid nearly $1,500 to get to Libya — for him, a small fortune. After paying the ransom, he spent about a month working to fund the next leg of his journey — the boat crossing to Italy — when the Libyan authorities caught up with him.

He was deported to Nigeria in April.

"After the whole pain, the suffering, everything, the beating and all that, the work, everything I've done in Libya … I'm back to Nigeria with nothing," says Seun.

Ijitola says he spent five days crammed inside a truck with many others, while temperatures

outside neared 50 C. Everyone in the truck was sold for ransom when they reached Libya.

(Anna Cunningham/CBC)

He always told his daughter that he wanted to give her an education, that he hoped she'd go "further than I do."

How he will do that is unclear. He has no car, no job, no money to buy food.

He feels exploited by the people who took his money along the way, calling them "evil," and likens the process to "a slave trade … buying passengers, buying human beings."

Africans need to know the true picture, he says.

"I will never try it again in my life," he says. "If I have opportunity to go to Europe again, it's going to be in the normal process."

Seun might now advise against the journey, but Danzinger, of the UN, says most people will ignore his warning and take a chance.

"They will … until they are provided with an alternative for a dignified and sustainable life in their community of origin," he said, "or for an opportunity to migrate regularly."

It's time for western powers to ensure western companies working in third world countries are no longer raping them of their natural resources and giving little or nothing back to the host country. We need to set standards for labour, for taxes, for investment, for replacing resources removed, and for ensuring a reasonable quality of life exists for indigenous peoples. And we need to do it to excess because of the centuries of abuse and poverty we have forced upon these countries. 

If Europe wants to stop the flow of migrants coming from Africa, they need to invest in the quality of life of Africans. If the west wants to stop the flow of migrants from Asia, they need to stop selling weapons to anyone and everyone who wants them. Not much chance of that, is there!

Most French Think ‘Too Many Foreigners,’ say ‘They Don’t Feel at Home’ Anymore – Poll

Muslims pray during Friday prayers in the street in front of the city hall of Clichy, near Paris.

© Benoit Tessier / Reuters

According to an Ipsos survey, commissioned and published by Le Monde, 65 percent of French people believe that there are “too many foreigners” in France, while 60 percent say that they “don’t feel at home as they did before.”

Also, over 60 percent said that migrants “in France do not make the effort to integrate,” and 46 percent believe that integration isn’t a complicated process.

The percentages vary depending on the political views of the respondents, with 95 percent of far-right National Front supporters saying that there are too many foreigners in France. The figure for Republicans is 83 percent (up seven percent since last year), while the left-leaning Socialists’ figure is 46 percent.

Similarly, social divisions remain clear; 77 percent of laborers think that there are too many foreigners in France, compared with 46 percent of managers.

Islam also remains a hot topic for the French. Another Ipsos annual survey, ‘French Fractures 2017,’ indicated that 60 percent of the respondents believe Islam is incompatible “with the values of the French Republic.”

In another question, an overwhelming 78 percent of the French regard Islam as a religion “seeking to impose its way of life on others.”

About 46 percent said that “even if it is not its main message, Islam still contains within it the seeds of violence and intolerance.” The figure is five percent up from the previous year.

The surveys were conducted amid a state of high alert, following two years of jihadist attacks. In November 2015, 130 people were killed in Paris; in July 2016, 86 people died in a truck attack in Nice.

France has been engulfed by disputes over Islam – one particularly hot topic being burkinis, an Islamic piece of beachwear.

Last summer, it was forbidden for a while to swim in burkinis on French beaches, though the Supreme Court ruled the measure unconstitutional in August. This year, the row has been renewed. A few days ago, the mayor of Lorette in central France banned the full-body swimsuit from a new leisure park, despite a high court ruling the bans illegal last year. Also, an activist tried to arrange a burkini beach party during the Cannes Film Festival, and the city administration pulled the plug on the plan.

Canada Gives Omar Khadr $8m Compensation and Canadians Don't Like It

I'm going to shock some of my followers who know me to be conservative and Christian and come out on the side of the teen 'terrorist' Omar Khadr. Khadr is not being rewarded, he is being compensated for the 13 years of military imprisonment and torture he endured, all of which was against Canadian and international law.

Perhaps you think it is OK to torture children? Perhaps you think 14 and 15 y/o children are responsible for the situations in which they find themselves? You would have fit right in with the Rotherham police, social services and council. For decades they watched young British girls get sexually, physically, emotionally abused, even tortured by Pakistani adult men and did nothing. 

In 16 years in that city which is considerably smaller than Abbotsford, B.C., 1400 young British girls were groomed, given drugs, alcohol, raped, gang-raped, and beaten while the police, social services and council turned a blind eye. Why did they turn a blind eye? Two reasons: 1) They didn't want to be seen as racist; 2) they told themselves that 11, 12, 13, 14 y/o girls were responsible for their own circumstances. They decided that little children were choosing to be gang-raped, kidnapped, beaten, and trafficked.

Omar Khadr had no more choice to be in the situation he was in than any of those 1400 young British girls. To hold him completely responsible and reject his remarkable confession and apology (which is not something you will ever get from a jihadist), puts us beneath him in dignity. 

The Conservative Party, The Canadian Taxpayers Foundation, and many of my friends are, unfortunately, on the wrong side of this issue.

A guard watches over detainees in Camp IV in Camp Delta at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay in Cuba on July 8, 2010. Omar Khadr, captured in Afghanistan at the age of 15, spent several years in detention at Guantanamo Bay. File Photo by Roger L. Wollenberg/UPI | License Photo

UPI -- The Canadian government will give $8 million and an apology to a citizen accused of killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan for abuses he endured while detained by U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In 2002, U.S. special forces captured Khadr after a firefight with al-Qaida forces in southeast Afganistan. Khadr is suspected of throwing a grenade that killed Special Forces Sgt. Christopher Speer and injuring Sgt. Layne Morris.

A Canadian court ruled that because Omar Khadr was 15 years old at the time of the firefight, he should have been protected by Canada under international child soldier laws. Instead, the government conspired with the U.S. to convict and imprison Khadr. While in U.S. detention, Khadr was subjected to emotional and physical abuse, including beatings, threats of rape and being hogtied until he urinated on himself.

In all, Khadr spent 13 years in U.S. military detention before he was released in Canada on probation in May 2015.

How he survived that without being an extremely bitter young man, I cannot imagine. But he is not, and it is obvious.

Due to Khadr's age and international laws meant to protect child soldiers from normal war crime prosecutions, his case has drawn criticism.

In 2008, the United Nations Children's Fund said charging Khadr for war crimes, "in particular in front of a military commission not equipped to meet the required standards, would set a dangerous precedent for the protection of hundreds of thousands of children who find themselves unwittingly involved in conflict around the world," the agency said in a statement.

Morris, who lost vision in one eye from the grenade attack and has since retired form the military, spoke out against Khadr's release in 2015.

"This is a man who has demonstrated a willingness and a capability to do great harm to Canadian society and Western interests in general," he said at the time.

He was 15 years old, doing what his powerful father trained him to do. In a firefight, he was probably just trying to survive. There is a big difference here between terrorism and a military battle.

Khadr was raised in a militant family in Toronto, taught bombmaking and marksmanship by his father before the age of 12 and sent to Afghanistan to fight the U.S. military with his father and brothers when he was 14.

Now 30, he has expresses remorse for his actions in the war between al-Qaida and the United States.

"I'm sorry for the pain I've caused for the families of the victims," he told reporters after his 2015 release. "There's nothing I can do about the past but I can do something about the future."

Statement by the Conservative Party of Canada:

Meet Canada’s newest multi-millionaire – Omar Khadr.

Yes, that Omar Khadr – the admitted Al-Qaida terrorist who murdered US Army medic Christopher Speer with a grenade.

Can it be called murder in the midst of a firefight? 

The same Omar Khadr who’s on video building improvised explosive devices exactly like the ones that killed and maimed countless serving Canadians.

When he was 14!

Now Justin Trudeau is reportedly giving this convicted terrorist a $10 million compensation package – and apologising to him.

Omar Khadr took the life of a husband and a father, and now the Liberal government wants to reward him with tens of millions of your dollars.

The language here is inflammatory and absurd. I despise the Liberal government as many of my blog-posts will attest, but in their defence, they are not rewarding Khadr for killing a husband and father. They are compensating him of 13 years of imprisonment and torture in a military prison, which was sanctified, if not participated in, by Canadian intelligence personnel.

Khadr is only alive today because of the medical treatment he received from US forces after killing one of their comrades, and now, thanks to Justin Trudeau, he will be one of the wealthiest men in Canada.

This is wrong.

Admitting to working with the same terrorist organisation that killed Canadians on September 11th doesn’t deserve an official apology from the Government of Canada.

More hyperbole and absurdity. The apology is for Canadian complicity in military detention and torture. 

Killing our allies doesn’t deserve a $10 million pay day courtesy of the taxpayers of Canada.

Will you just stop! This is not worthy of a government-in-waiting? It's like something you would hear on Fox radio. Mr. Scheer, please don't take us down that road!