There’s young man in Guantanamo Bay Detention facility, a young man who has been there since he was 15 years old, almost seven years. His name is Omar Khadr. He is a Canadian born in Toronto, Ontario, During that time, and that he has been tortured:
Omar was told if he did not cooperate, he would be sent to
Afghanistan, where they like "they like small boys."
(Guantanamo’s Child, pg 106)
During another interrogation that year, Omar said he was
threatened with Rendition to Egypt, and, again the threat
of sexual violence was explicit. The interrogator spit in
his face and pulled Omar’s hair when he would not answer.
In Egypt, the interviewers would not be so nice he was told.
He would meet Askri raqm tisa, Soldier Number Nine, the
guard who raped uncooperative prisoners.
(Guantanamo’s Child, pg 106)
A report from the CBC notes about a Canadian report issued after a Canadian official’s visit to Guantanamo:
The report — dated April 20, 2004, and written by R. Scott Heatherington, who was the director of the department's foreign intelligence division — states Foreign Affairs official Jim Gould was told Khadr was placed on a "frequent flyer program" for three weeks before Gould's visit. That meant Khadr was "not permitted more than three hours in any one location.
"At three-hour intervals, he is moved to another cellblock, thus denying him uninterrupted sleep," according to the report. "He will soon be placed in isolation for up to three weeks, and then he will be interviewed again."
The National Post describes a passage from Omar Khadr’s affidavit:
In one untouched passage, Mr. Khadr recalls how, at age 16, he was used as a mop after he had been cuffed in various contorted positions for at least an hour, and urinated on himself and the floor.
"Military police poured pine oil on the floor and on me," Mr. Khadr says. "And then, with me lying on my stomach with my hands and feet cuffed together behind me, the military police dragged me back and forth through the mixture of urine and pine oil on the floor."
He says he was refused a shower before being returned to his cell, and denied a change of clothing for two days. The same thing happened again "a few weeks later," he adds.
Now Omar has been in Guantanamo for seven years, he is 22, having grown to adulthood in a cage being tortured.
Last year evidence came out that Omar may have never have done what he accused of: throwing a grenade that killed a US soldier in the middle of a firefight:
Second al-Qaida fighter implicated in Khadr incident, secret document shows
A witness to the firefight in which Omar Khadr allegedly killed a U.S. soldier has revealed there was another al-Qaida operative close by and still fighting, it emerged Monday.
By Canwest News ServiceFebruary 4, 2008
U.S. NAVAL BASE GUANTANAMO, Cuba — A witness to the firefight in which Omar Khadr allegedly killed a U.S. soldier has revealed there was another al-Qaida operative close by and still fighting, it emerged Monday.
The witness’s account is contained in a document that military officials inadvertently handed to journalists just ahead of a hearing for the Cdian terror suspect.
The administrative and security arm of the military commission hearing Khadr’s case put forward officials who were persistent in "requesting" the return of the document, saying it contains information that shouldn’t be made public.
But Khadr’s lead military defence lawyer said he had no problems with releasing the information — adding that attempts to keep it quiet illustrated the secrecy surrounding the process.
The military judge in the Khadr proceedings will rule later on whether the trial for the now 21-year-old will proceed.
© (c) CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc.
During the time he has been incarcerated, Omar has had twelve military lawyers. It has been very difficult for them to get him to trust them, because of how he has been treated by the interrogators and the guards. In September of 2007, Lt. Commander William Kuebler, a military lawyer, has been appointed as Omar’s US lawyer. Gradually, Omar has come to trust him. Lt. Commander Kuebler has, along with Omar’s Canadian lawyers, ..., become Omar’s true advocate, including raising the profile of his case before the public, so Omar will not be forgotten. Here is one transcript of an interview with the CBC where Lt. Commander Kuebler talks about Omar and his case http://www.cbc.ca/...
In March, Lt. Commander Kuebler’s supervisor, Col. Peter Masciola, started an investigation into Lt. Commander Kuebler’s handling of the case, and yesterday he reassigned Kuebler away from representing Omar because "the team representing Omar Khadr has become dysfunctional." Apparently at least some of the conflict is that Lt. Commander Kuebler maintains that Omar should be repatriated to Canada with an appropriate program to rehabilitate him, a program which has already been designed and is ready to be implemented, and Col. Masciola believes that the next step should be to get the case before the US federal courts. Lt. Commander Kuebler has accused Col. Masciola of being in a conflict of interest and too close to the prosecution. Since the investigation started, Lt. Commander Kuebler has been denied the ability to meet with his client. I don’t know what the truth is about the allegations, but I do know one thing: There is a 22 year old young man who has been locked up and tortured for almost seven years, a third of his life and half of his time as a teenager, a young man who has had someone he trusts, some one who has fought for him, torn away from him. To quote one of Omar’s Canadian lawyers, Nathan Whitling,: I think the only person who should be firing Omar’s lawyer is Omar, and Omar is not the one who fired his lawyer."
Standing for Omar,
Standing for justice and accountability,
For Dan,
Heather