Secret Khadr Document Mistakenly Released

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba–A classified document mistakenly released to reporters at the U.S. navy base here has revealed Omar Khadr wasn't the only person alive in an Afghan compound when an American soldier was fatally wounded.

Toronto-born Khadr was captured in Afghanistan in 2002 at the age of 15 after a firefight with U.S. forces. The Pentagon has charged Khadr with five war crimes, including the murder of Christopher Speer, a Delta Force soldier and medic who died 10 days after the firefight from grenade wounds.

Another fighter was still alive inside the Afghan compound where Omar Khadr was captured at the time a grenade killed a U.S. soldier, casting doubt on allegations that only the teenage militant could have been responsible for the soldier's death.

It has long been assumed by many that Mr. Khadr was the only combatant alive during the firefight, and so must have been the one who threw the grenade.

The revelations, mistakenly released in never-before seen documents, came during a military tribunal hearing for Mr. Khadr Monday at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The documents contain a transcript of an interview with the only U.S. security agent believed to have witnessed first-hand the fierce firefight inside the compound where then-15-year-old Mr. Khadr was staying in 2002 – a firefight that left the young Canadian with shrapnel wounds and two bullets in his back.

While the interviewed agent — whose identity and agency affiliation are still secret — says he believes Mr. Khadr threw the grenade, his account of events clearly shows that he deduced that conclusion rather than saw it first-hand.

Mr. Khadr's lead defence lawyer, U.S. Navy Lieutenant-Commander William Kuebler, said that had the document not accidentally been made public, reporters may never have seen it. “There's no openness about this process, that's the point,” he said. “This is a process that's designed to take place outside of public view, outside of public scrutiny.”