Khadr you may recall was one of the early casualties of the U.S. bombing and invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. In the Summer of 2002, Khadr, the then fifteen year old son of a "radical" Jihadist family was captured, barely alive, the apparent sole survivor of an American Special Forces assault on a compound in a small village in Afghanistan's hill country. Seriously wounded, Khadr was spared when his captors picked up on his request to be killed uttered in perfect, (Canadian) English.
 
That fateful day was the beginning of a now seven-and-a-half years long nightmare of torture, physical and psychic abuse, and despair for Omar and what survives of the Khadr family, (Kadr's father and a brother both being killed in the Afghanistan war during his internment).Today, Kadr has the unenviable distinction of being the last of the Western nationals imprisoned in the infamous Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay, (Cuba).

Friday, August 14, 2009, Canada's Federal Appeal Court reaffirmed a lower court ruling ordering the Canadian government seek citizen Khadr's repatriation from what it ruled an illegal detention by a foreign power.

State media, the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC Online) reports the court's 2-1 split decision supporting Federal Court Justice, James O'Reilly's ruling in favour of Khadr's challenge to the government's failure to petition ally America for his release as a denial of his rights under Canada's  Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Specifically, Khadr cites Section 7 of the Charter, saying his "...rights to, liberty and security of the person" was violated by a visit paid to him while in Guantanamo by agents working for Canadian intelligence, (CSIS). The agents pretended to be there to help, but began instead a rigorous interrogation of the still-wounded teenager. Video of some of the interrogation sessions created a small sensation when released last year, but failed to move the Harper government in Canada; from then until today, the Tories have obfuscated on the case in the press and done everything in their powers through the courts to hold up Khadr's inevitable eventual release.  

 

Speer is said by the military to have been killed by a hand grenade, allegedly thrown by young Omar. There are no witnesses to the actual lobbing of the grenade, and at least one soldier testified Omar Khadr was NOT the only survivor of the raid at the time of the explosion thought to have killed Sgt. Speer.

Nevertheless, successive Liberal and Conservative Canadian governments have allowed Khadr remain in Guantanamo, in part based on his own confession of the crime. Conveniently not discussed is the torture the prisoner claims prompted his admission. And in Guantanamo he has remained, spending fully a third of his short life waiting for justice.

Justice without Trials, Guilt without Commission 

Back in Canada the dissenting vote in Canada's Federal Appeal Court, cast by Justice Marc Nadon exemplifies Khadr's impossible search for official exoneration. In his dissent, Nadon contends the lower court erred, writing;

"It is clear that Canada has decided not to seek Mr. Khadr’s repatriation at the present time. Why Canada has taken that position is, in my respectful view, not for us to criticize or inquire into [...] Whether Canada should seek Mr. Khadr’s repatriation at the present is a matter best left to the executive."

That sentence alone was enough to give the prime minister the wiggle room to get off the Khadr hook. Harper refuses to comment while the case is before the Justice ministry and they had a chance to "examine the decision." But Justice Nadon went one further, saying he thought the lower court's ruling was "direct interference into Canada’s conduct of its foreign affairs."  

This argument for the abrogation of responsibility is par for the government of Canada's course in this case. Last year, when first faced with the order to seek redress for citizen Khadr, Harper's Tories mewled any action by them could "jeopardize international relations."

Nevermind justice, conscience, or simply human decency, those that govern Canada and their supporters in the Justice bureaucracy are content to allow a young man rot in a prison the entire world deplores rather than upset the apple cart for its American allies. That the U.S. is all that concerned about the fate of Omar Khadr is hard too to prove. Though the Obama administration has failed to address justice in his case, as it has in others, the Bush administration oversaw the repatriation of every other Western national, once asked to do so by their respective home countries.

It's an important point, because another of Canada's reasons not to ask for Khadr's release is the supposed unlikelihood of American Justice complying. Addressing this, the Appeal Court determined;

“The fact that Canada has no control over the response of the United States does not mean that it is inappropriate to order the request to be made. In the circumstances of this case, making the request is the most appropriate remedy Canada can offer.”

The court concluding in its 43 page decision, Khadr's continued imprisonment constituted an offense against the "principle of fundamental justice and violates Mr. Khadr's rights," writing;

"To mitigate the effect of that violation, Canada must present a request to the United States for Mr. Khadr's repatriation as soon as practicable."

While the Justice ministry contemplates their next steps, whether to continue fighting the law, or granting its titular duties, Omar Khadr remains, a limbo prisoner in a deep, dark, black hole of Canadian justice.