Khadr's Rights Violated - Canada's Supreme Court

by Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke | January 29, 2010 at 08:03 am

774 views | 77 Recommendations | 13 comments

Canada's Supreme Court has ruled that Omar Khadr's rights were violated. It stopped short of telling the Canadian Government that it must try to return Khadr to Canada. In it's decision the Court left it to the government to decide how to best deal with this latest information and in conformity with the Canadian Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.

The Courts ruling was unanimous.

Omar Khadr was picked up on the battlefield in 2002 and brought to GITMO shortly thereafter. Omar Khadr is accused of the murder of an American soldier and presently scheduled to be tried by military tribunal.

Omar Khadr, 23, was 15 at the time of his capture. The Canadian government was implicit with human rights violations when it participated in his interrogation at GITMO and shared the results with US authorities.

The ball is now in the Harper government's court. The Justice Minister who announced five new appointees to the Senate today, has not commented on the Khadr case.

The Supreme Court of Canada has overturned lower-court orders that the Canadian government must try to return Omar Khadr to Canada from the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay — even though the court agrees his human rights have been violated and continue to be violated by Canadian officials.

In a unanimous decision released Friday, the court declared that Canadian officials breached Toronto-born Khadr's right to life, liberty and security of the person under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

However, it concluded that ordering the government to ask the U.S. for Khadr's repatriation to stop the continuing violation of his rights would interfere with the government's jurisdiction over foreign relations.

"We … leave it to the government to decide how best to respond to this judgment in light of current information, its responsibility for foreign affairs, and in conformity with the charter," the ruling said.

2 See all footage | View Slideshow

Share: email story | add to any | | facebook | stumbleupon

recommend This comment thread is now closed

Barbara McPherson

at 08:14 on January 29th, 2010

Finally! Now perhaps the Harper government will repatriate Mr. Khadr. The government has never made a case to keep him in that 'black' prison in Cuba.

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 08:22 on January 29th, 2010

The Harper Government can request to repatriate, in the end it will be the decision of the Obama Administration. I hope that our government does request it. It will be a good test to see where Obama stands on this issue.

I don't think Khadr was ever offered for repatriation. The U.S. Justice Department is under fire for the handling of Gitmo prisoners and are apparently looking for venues outside of New York to try those that were to be tried by civilian courts.

marianmo

at 08:18 on January 29th, 2010

ty again karl

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 08:25 on January 29th, 2010

You're welcome:)

Amy Judd

at 08:34 on January 29th, 2010

Interesting ruling for sure

158

at 10:51 on January 29th, 2010

I think PM Harper should bring him to Canada.

Barry ORegan

at 16:34 on January 29th, 2010

Yeah and shame on that US Medic for his audacity of getting in the way of Khadr's grenade and getting killed!~

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 17:00 on January 29th, 2010

Barry, in all fairness, no one ever suggested that Khadr should not stand trial. I am only the messenger for this story. Nevertheless I think our Canadian institutions are solid, including the Supreme Court. Even if I may not like the decision I can accept their rationale for it.

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 16:57 on January 29th, 2010

I don't believe I'm wrong even enemy combatants get their day in court. This ruling has nothing to do with what the U.S. government does. It only suggests that the Canadian government had an obligation to request his return to Canada. There is no need to get upset and tell them to shove it.

If the decision had gone the other way all the Khadr supporters would have been upset. You can please some of the people some of the time......

This decision has nothing to do with his guilt. It doesn't dictate what the U.S. should do. It merely suggests that the Canadian government had an obligation to request Khadr's return to Canada. The U.S. will respond as it will.

The court was not wrong about gay marriage either. It weighed it against the provisions of the Charter of Rights.

So the bottom line is if anything is wrong is the Charter of Rights.

Roy if I go with your rationale, I'll throw out all judges and get rid of the rule of law. The court did not order the government to request Khadr's return from the U.S.

The ball is clearly in the governments court.

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 17:26 on January 29th, 2010

Would you explain that to me, because surely I.m missing something.

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 18:17 on January 29th, 2010

Roy if you were overseas and were picked up for a crime against let.s say for arguments sake China. You would expect the U.S. government (state department) to try and intervene on your behalf. It has nothing to do with guilt. It has to do with representation.

In this case the court ruled that by the Canadian Government not asking to have him repatriated to Canada (and that could have been with an agreement to try him or even after a trial) that his rights were violated.

International law provides that countries of origin provide dimplomatic assistanc to their citizens and in this case the US government would have notified the Canadian Ambassador.

The court also ruled that the fact that our own negotiators interviewed him at Gitmo and shared that information with US authorities was against his rights.

The court did not order the government to try to obtain Khadr's release but left the decision up to the government based on the new information..

As to your point on gay marriage, while the court here provided advice on gay marriage, the legalization moved through Parliament.

I can't speak for you Supreme Court, but I.m confident they don.t make laws, they merely interpret them and if they're found to be unconstitutional it is up to the legislators to change them.

As far as this case goes, it has moved through the lower courts, supported by Amnesty International. In each case the lower courts ruled that the Canadian Government must take action to obtain his release.

The top court in the nation did no such thing. This was not a win for Khadr side either. The Government of Canada must weigh now how they want to approach this.

Basically if I had my way, I would have them ask the Obama administration to release him to Canada's custody. What do you think the odds are of the US Administration complying? With the present perception that Obama is weak on terrorism I think the odds are zero and the monkey would be off Harper's back politically.