Federal Court presses government on Khadr

[Spazito]

The Federal Court of Canada has given the federal government seven days to come up with a list of remedies to its breach of Omar Khadr's constitutional rights.

In a decision released Monday, the court said the Canadian citizen, now jailed at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is entitled to "procedural fairness and natural justice."

Justice Russel Zinn said Ottawa has not met the standard set by the Supreme Court of Canada when it ordered the federal government to right the wrongs it had brought on the 23-year-old accused of killing a U.S. medic in 2002.

In a January ruling, the court declared Khadr's rights had been violated and demanded the Harper government come up with a remedy.


more

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/07/05/supreme-court-omar-khadr.html

[glarius]

1. Harper's hypocracy is astounding!

This is another area the Liberals could use against Harper. He is trying to make himself out to be concerned about the world's mothers and children but with his usual dishonesty is displaying the exact opposite.
As Harper knows, Khadr was taken by his father to be a soldier as a 13 year old child. What 13 year old child would defy his father? He was 15, considered to be a child soldier, when the U.S. soldier was killed and from what I have read and heard about it, there is some question as to whether it was actually Khadr who did the killing.
I do know that at the time that Australia and other democratic countries asked for and received their citizens' patriation, Harper refused to ask for Khadr's return.
The man is a cold, opportunistic control freak!

[Spazito]

2. Yep, he and his cabal continue to be a gross embarassment...

I hope the Opposition hammer them on this through the media. They now have SIX days to come up with a remedy that addresses the Court's decision. This could get interesting indeed.

[Bragi]

3. What matters is what Harper's supporters think

It doesn't matter what the majority may think on this, what matters is how the 1/3 of Canadians who vote for Harper think. And they think his denial of Khadr's charter rights is just fine.

Given that Harper has abandoned his dream of getting a majority, there is no political reason for him to change his policies on Khadr or anything else.

Play to the base and he will get the 1/3 of votes needed to stay in power, provided the rest of us keep splitting our votes between 4 parties.

That is the new reality of Canadian politics. A right wing PM doesn't need a majority to run this country with an iron fist.

[glarius]

4. I wonder if most Canadians know the true story of Khadr?

I can't help but feel that if it was generally known by Canadians that he was a 13 year old boy forced into soldiering by his dad, there would be a difference. Whenever the Khadr story is mentioned on TV, the media doesn't mention this fact and only those of us who are news nuts are aware of the facts. I'm sure that there would be many who have been for him in the past who would have a change of heart.

[Bragi]

6. The people who vote for Harper won't change their view on this

The one-third of Canadians who vote for Harper are inclined to support the quick dismissal of civil liberties for people who they see as enemies.

They are the people whose views matter to Harper. He is, at best, indifferent to the rest of us. Actually, he doesn't really like us.

[glarius]

7. I perhaps didn't explain my point well....

What I mean is that I believe Harper would lose a lot of support by decent Canadians who would be against his stand on Khadr (refusing to ask for his return to Canada) if they knew the facts. This would effect the vote, I believe.

[Bragi]

8. My point is this:

I don't think the one-third who support Harper are doing so because they lack info on anything. They basically agree with his right-wing approach to everything, including his refusal to defend the civil liberties of anyone whom he sees as a political enemy. I don't think Harper's supporters will be moved in the slightest by the Khadr case. I think they have the same facts as the rest of us, and they agree with Harper's dismissal of Kahdr's human rights despite the fact that he was a child soldier.

[Toilet]

10. Why would the media

make such an assumption that he was forced? That's not what the media does. They report the news. They don't report allegations as fact.

[Spazito]

5. More info in this article...

Ruling may force repatriation of Khadr from Guantanamo prison

OTTAWA — A Federal Court judge has given the Harper government one week to propose remedies for violations of Omar Khadr's constitutional rights.


Khadr's lawyer Nathan Whitling said Monday's ruling is tantamount to an instruction that Khadr be repatriated from Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. detention camp in Cuba where the young Canadian-born man has been held since 2002.


"We're pleased with the ruling," Whitling said. "We're running out time. Maybe they'll do the right thing and make the request that they should have made years ago."


Judge Russel Zinn ruled Khadr "is entitled to procedural fairness and natural justice in Canada's process of determining a remedy" for a breach of his constitutional rights that was found by the Supreme Court of Canada in January.

more

http://www.canada.com/news/Ruling+force+repatriation+Khadr+from+Guantanamo+prison/3238341/story.html

[CHIMO]

9. Khadr fires American lawyers

Omar Khadr has fired his American lawyers less than a week before his military commission pre-trial hearings are slated to resume in Guantanamo Bay, one of his attorneys said Wednesday.

Khadr, via a motion terminating his U.S. counsel and filed by his lawyers with the commission, said that he would either represent himself or boycott his trial.

"We have worked our hearts out on the case and were just eagerly looking forward to what we had planned to do," one of the lawyers, Barry Coburn, told The Canadian Press.

"We're just kind of consumed with grief at the notion that we won't be able to do that."

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/07/07/omar-khadr.html
Wednesday, July 7, 2010 | 7:49 PM ET