Omar Khadr's defence lawyer fired

by Barbara McPherson | April 5, 2009 at 04:10 pm

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The sorry saga at Guantanamo Prison in Cuba continues. Today came news that Omar Khadr's military appointed, defense lawyer was removed from the case. The reasons for the reassignment were not given.
Lt.-Cmdr . William Kuebler has been assigned to Khadr's defense for the past two years and has led a spirited defense of the child soldier. He was apparently in conflict with Guantanamo chief defence lawyer, Col. Peter Masciola. He had accused Masciola of a conflict of interest in this case.

He complained specifically about Masciola's co-operation with the review of Guantanamo cases aimed at deciding whether the cases should be tried in civilian or military courts or some combination of the two.

"I don't want to make it easier for the government to prosecute my client," he said at the time. "I want my client to be released."

The Canadian government is seeking more information on Kuebler's dismissal, said Catherine Loubier, a spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon.

Kuebler waged an aggressive and public campaign on behalf of Khadr, 22, during his two years on the case. He called for the young man's return to Canada to short-circuit a military tribunal system he describes as unfair.

Khadr is accused of killing a U.S. army medic with a hand grenade during a gunfight in Afghanistan in 2002. Khadr was 15 at the time.

This comes at a time when three prisoners held in an American prison in Afganistan have had a favourable habea corpus ruling.