UN protests U.S. decision to try Omar Khadr

Harper the great human rights advocate has not objected at all about the trial of Khadr nor about the character of the military tribunals nor has he even taken notice of the fact that Khadr was a juvenile when the alleged crime was committed.
"It also shows the potential for damage to Canada's international reputation as a champion of human rights and leader in efforts to protect children involved in armed conflict."
Harper and many in the Canadian public only care about human rights when it involves good guys such as Burmese monks up against a military dictatorship. Khadr is an acknowledged member of an outspoken Al Qaeda supporting family and there is absolutely no political capital to be gained by taking up his case. Ergo Harper will not complain but side with his buddy George Bush.
The federal government has not protested Khadr's detention or upcoming trial, citing the seriousness of the accusations against him.



UN protests U.S. decision to try Omar Khadr

Sheldon Alberts
CanWest News Service


Monday, November 19, 2007


WASHINGTON -- The United Nations has launched a formal protest with the United States over its decision to try Canadian terrorism suspect Omar Khadr, who was 15 years old when captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan.

Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict, will take up Khadr's case during a meeting Tuesday in Washington with John Bellinger, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's senior legal adviser.

"She will raise her concerns about the creation of an international precedent where an individual is being tried for crimes with regards to alleged acts committed when he was a child," Laurence Gerard, a spokeswoman for Coomaraswamy, told CanWest News Service.

The UN's decision to complain to the Bush administration about Khadr's upcoming murder trial follows a separate, behind-the-scenes appeal by Coomaraswamy to Canadian officials about the case.

"There were also bilateral [exchanges] with Canada," said Gerard, who would not provide details of a letter dispatched to Foreign Affairs officials in Ottawa.

Khadr, now 21, is charged with murder for allegedly throwing a grenade that killed U.S. army Sgt. Christopher Speer during a firefight near Khost, Afghanistan, in July, 2002.

Khadr has been detained since November, 2002, at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and is now the only remaining citizen of a western country in detention there.

He faces additional charges of attempted murder, conspiracy, spying and providing material aid to terrorism.

According to Coomaraswamy, Khadr's upcoming trial runs contrary to the Optional Protocol of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The protocol, which the U.S. ratified in 2002, states persons under the age of 18 years enlisted or conscripted into armed conflict "are entitled to special protection" under the law. Human rights groups argue the U.S. has obligations under the treaty to demobilize and rehabilitate child soldiers.

Coomaraswamy "is not going to talk about the case itself. It's not within her mandate. She cannot interfere within the case," said Gerard. "She can raise concerns, and that is what she is going to do."

The legal debate about the significance of Khadr's age has intensified in recent weeks, with his American military lawyer contending Khadr should be spared a war crimes trial because he was a child soldier forced into a combat situation.

But the military judge hearing the case has instructed Khadr's legal team that they cannot raise issues of international law at future pre-trial hearings.

"We look forward to taking this case to trial," said Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, a spokesman for the Pentagon's Office of Military Commissions. "Khadr must be held accountable for his actions in Afghanistan."

Khadr's lawyers said Monday they were buoyed by Coomaraswamy's intervention.

The UN's concern "shows that the international community views Omar as a child soldier, deserving of the rights and protections afforded to former child soldiers under international law," said Lt.-Cmdr. William Kuebler, the military defence lawyer detailed to Khadr's case.

"It also shows the potential for damage to Canada's international reputation as a champion of human rights and leader in efforts to protect children involved in armed conflict."

The federal government has not protested Khadr's detention or upcoming trial, citing the seriousness of the accusations against him.

The case has grabbed renewed attention in recent weeks because of two surprise developments.

Following Khadr's arraignment two weeks ago at Guantanamo, his lawyers alleged the U.S. government had "buried" information about a secret witness with evidence that could prove the Canadian was not an unlawful enemy combatant at the time of his capture.

Then, on Sunday, the CBS news magazine 60 Minutes broadcast a 12-minute segment on Khadr that included new video footage allegedly showing him making roadside bombs in Afghanistan. The tape was reportedly seized by American forces following the 2002 battle in which Speer was killed and Khadr wounded.

It's unclear whether the video broadcast by CBS is the same footage that Pentagon prosecutors have repeatedly -- and unsuccessfully -- tried to introduce as evidence at Khadr's pre-trial hearings.

But the Pentagon said neither prosecutors nor the Office of Military Commissions Convening Authority, which organizes the war crimes tribunals, leaked any video to CBS.

"Neither the OMC Convening Authority or the prosecution know who provided the tape," Gordon said.

He added: "We do not discuss potential evidentiary issues, nor is it appropriate to make comparisons to potential evidence which may be raised at trial."

Khadr's defence team contends the Canadian would be the first child prosecuted for war crimes in modern history.

They plan to argue he is being punished for the "sins of his father," Ahmed Said Khadr, an al-Qaida financier who was killed in Pakistan in 2003.

"If Omar is to be prosecuted for a crime, international law requires that he be prosecuted in a regular court, which properly takes into account his age at the time of his alleged offenses," said Kuebler.