What rights of Khadr have been violated?

Many posts stress attempts to create sympathy for Khadr through the interrogaton photos. These photos are a select group and unless viewed sympathetically are not likely to produce any sympathy. Any tapings of torture will never be released. The real issues are what rights of Khadr are being violated. According to Michael Coren in the Edmonton Sun the only valid complaint is that the Americans have not tried Khadr speedily. This degree of ignorance in a reporter is surprising. To enlighten Coren, I am posting this summary of the violation of Khadr's rights. The system at Guantanamo is almost universally condemned by judicial experts around the world.
This is from rightslantern.


LAWYERS AGAINST THE WAR Canadalaw@portal.ca http://www.lawyersagainstthewar.org/
A Canada-based committee of jurists and others who oppose war andpromote enforcement of international humanitarian law.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007
To: The Right Honourable Prime Minister Stephen Harper The Honourable Attorney General Robert Nicholson, The Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter MacKay, The Honourable Minister of National Defence Gordon O’Connor
Re: Omar Khadr: Duty of Canadian government to protect the rights of Canadian citizen Omar Khadr imprisoned by U.S. authorities since July 2002 -- first in Afghanistan and, since November 2002, in Guantánamo Bay.
Canada has a legal duty to obtain the immediate release from Guantánamo Bay prison, and repatriation to Canada, of Omar Khadr. Time is of the essence because the available evidence indicates that Mr. Khadr’s fundamental rights, under Canadian law and under international law binding on Canada and the U.S., have been violated throughout his imprisonment. Evidence filed in 2005 U.S. habeas corpus proceedings indicates Khadr has suffered significant psychological damage and deteriorating physical health as a result a variety of abusive treatment including torture, physical abuse and exposure to debilitating isolation, light, physical stress and cold. Evidence also indicates that damage to his mental health will likely be irreversible if untreated. i Delay will certainly contribute to further rights violations and further injury and deterioration of Mr. Khadr’s health.
The U.S. is required by both the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Prisoners of War (the Third Geneva Convention), and the U.S. Army Field Manual ii to release and repatriate Mr. Khadr as a person requiring treatment. Canadian authorities should take note that Article 13 of the Third Geneva Convention provides that any act or omission that seriously endangers the health of a prisoner of war is itself a grave breach—i.e., a war crime.
Does Omar Khadr have any rights? Evidence indicates that U.S. authorities have, during the past four years and 11 months, violated essentially all Omar Khadr’s fundamental rights, namely his rights to: liberty, iii due process, iv freedom from torture, v freedom from arbitrary imprisonment, vi freedom from prosecution for ex post facto crimes and the right to equality before the law and equal access to the protection of the law. vii Many of these violations are themselves crimes. Mr. Khadr’s entitlement to these rights flows from his status as: a) a Canadian citizen protected by Canadian law, including the Charter; b) a child at the time of capture protected by the Convention on the Rights of the Child; c) a prisoner of war protected by the Third Geneva Convention; and d) a human being protected by the Convention against Torture and other Cruel or Inhuman Treatment or Punishment, the Criminal Code of Canada, the Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Act and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Neither the Presidential edicts of November 13, 2001 and February 2, 2002, or the designation as an enemy combatant by the Combat Status Review Tribunal (CSRT), created in July 2004 viii to avoid a review of prisoners’ detention by U.S. courts, or the Military Commission Act (MCA), passed by the U.S. Congress in October 2006, ix over 4 years after Omar Khadr was taken prisoner, are competent to deny the legal rights that have been violated during his imprisonment. All notions that Omar Khadr is a legal non-person without rights are dangerous, untenable nonsense.
Is Omar Khadr a prisoner of war?Omar Khadr is presumed, by operation of Article 102 of the Third Geneva Convention, to be a prisoner of war (POW) unless and until a competent tribunal decides otherwise. No tribunal has ever considered his POW status and therefore the presumption has not been displaced. The CSRTs, an extra-legal administrative procedure that stripped detainees of due process rights and allowed for determinations made on the basis of secret evidence extracted through torture, were not mandated to consider POW status and not competent to displace the presumptive POW status. The CSRT designation as an enemy combatant in fact confirms the presumptive POW status, as this is one category of person who is a POW.
Can Omar Khadr be prosecuted for acts that were not crimes when they were committed?The law prevents Khadr from being prosecuted and punished for ex post facto offences—offences that were not crimes at the time they were committed. x The ex post facto prosecution, advanced by U.S. authorities, would deprive Khadr of fair trial rights and, therefore, itself is an offence. xi The charges of conspiracy to aid al Qaida, aiding the enemy and murder by an “unprivileged belligerent” were not offences until passage of the MCA, more than four years after Khadr was taken prisoner and so prosecution is barred. The U.S. claims combat immunity for the more than 50 U.S. troops engaged in the July 27th land and air assault of a compound in Afghanistan that left Khadr seriously wounded, the buildings flattened by bombing, all other occupants of the compound and one U.S. soldier dead. Under the MCA, the U.S. seeks to convict Khadr in the death of the U.S. soldier on the basis that Khadr was an “unprivileged belligerent”, a term unknown to humanitarian law.
Violations of Khadr’s fundamental rights during his imprisonment have been authorized and supported by the U.S. Departments of Defense and Justice for almost five years. During this time U.S. authorities have also blocked all attempts to secure the determination and protection of Khadr’s rights through U.S. courts. The U.S. has, through these actions, established incompetence to allow Omar Khadr the protection of law required by fundamental principles of justice and cannot guarantee him a fair trial before any U.S. court.
Canada has both the legal duty and capacity to secure the legal rights of Omar Khadr and to conduct appropriate investigations and proper prosecutions of acts committed by and against him. There is no other state that has the capacity and duty to do so. Lawyers Against the War calls on the Government of Canada to act effectively to secure the immediate release of Omar Khadr from Guantánmo Bay and his repatriation and to ensure that treatment of Mr. Khadr adheres strictly to Canadian law.
We look forward to your response to our call to action.
Sincerely,
Gail Davidson, Lawyers Against the War, Vancouver BC CanadaProfessor Amir Attaran, D. Phil. LL.B. University of Ottawa, Ottawa Ontario CanadaDave Abbey, Ottawa Ontario CanadaMark Battersby, Phd (Phil), Philosophy Department, Capilano College, Vancouver BC CanadaJudith Blau, Professor, Chair Social & Economic Justice, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillGloria Bletter, Attorney (retired) New York, U.S.A.Francis Boyle, Professor of Law, University of Illinois, Illinois U.S.A.Paul Copeland, Barrister and Solicitor, Toronto Ontario CanadaMarjorie Cohn, Professor of Law, President of the National Lawyers Guild, California U.S.A.Diana m. Davidson, C.M., LLb, Bed (elem), founder People’s Law School, Vancouver BC CanadaPhilippe Robert de Massy, Avocat, Quebec, CanadaSheila Dunnachie, Mayne Island, B.C.Armin Fiand, Rechtsanwalt, Hamburg, GermanyJohn Bart Gerald, Ottawa Ontario CanadaCharles B. Gittings Jr., Project to Enforce the Geneva Conventions, California U.S.A.Dr. Peter Gose, Professor, Carleton University, OttawaRob Hughes, Barrister and Solicitor, Vancouver BC CanadaSteve Kisby, Vancouver BCPaola Konge, Barrister and Solicitor, Burlington Ontario CanadaHans G. Kratz, KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives, Qualicum B.C. CanadaDr. Max LeBlond, J.D. University of Washington, Teacher, Sidney, AustraliaTamara Lorincz, Halifax Peace Coalition & Nova Scotia Voice of Women for PeaceDr. Graeme MacQueen, Hamilton Ontario CanadaIrene MacInnes, CESAPI Founding member, Vancouver Citizens Peace Award, Vancouver, CanadaProf. Fabio Marcelli, President-Center for Democracy Research, Vice-Secretary IADL, ItalyRandal Marlin, Department of Philosophy, Carleton University, Ottawa Ontario CanadaGeorge McFetridge, Vancouver BCJohn McNamer, Kamloops B.C. CanadaKhaled Mouammar, National President Canadian Arab FederationAlma Norman, Citizen. Ottawa Ontario CanadaAlmerindo Ojeda, Coordinator Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas, Calif. U.S.A.Dr Trevor Purvis, Professor of International Law and Human Rights, Carleton University, Ottawa CanadaMichael Ratner, President of the Center for Constitutional Rights, New York U.S.A.Réseau du Forum social de Québec Chaudière-Appalaches (49 groups, labor unions and networks)Joan Russow (PhD), Project for Global Research, Victoria B.C. CanadaDr. Blair Rutherford, Professor, Carleton University, Ottawa Ontario CanadaDr. Heinz-Juergen Schneider, Rechtsanwalt, Hamburg, GermanyWolfgang P. Schulz, Rechtsanwalt, President (Europe) World Jurist Association, Berlin GermanyBarbara Seifred, Abbotsford BCNaeem Siddiqi, Canadian Muslim Civil Liberties Association CanadaRené Silva Director Canadian Committee To Combat Crimes Against Humanity Montreal QuebecBill Skidmore, Professor of Human Rights, Carleton University, Ottawa Ontario CanadaMeindert J.F. Stelling, Dutch Association of Lawyers for Peace, The Hague, NetherlandsLinda Taffs, CESAPI Founding member, Mosaic Human Rights Award, Vancouver, CanadaDr. Paata Tsnobiladze, Law Professor, National President, World Jurist Association, Rep. of Georgia
i Paragraphs 19-27 of the Declaration of Eric W. Trupin, Ph.D. filed in the U.S. habeas corpus proceedings, O.K., et al v. George Bush, et al.ii The Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Articles 21 and 110 and the US Army Field Manual 27-10 (1956), paragraphs 188, 189. http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~nstanton/Ch3.htm#s1iii The right to liberty and not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice is guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.iv Due Process rights, including rights to a lawyer, notice of charges and evidence, a fair trial before a competent and independent tribunal, habeas corpus, an appeal, the presumption of innocence are guaranteed by a number of Canadian statutes and international instruments binding on Canada: the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Third Geneva Convention, the Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Act, the Convention on the Rights of the Child.v Freedom from torture is a non-derogable right of all humankind that cannot be displaced by any circumstances, guaranteed by the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel and Inhuman Treatment or Punishment, the Criminal Code, the Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Act, the Rome Statute of the International Court, the Geneva Conventions, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and others laws binding on Canada and the U.S..vi Freedom from arbitrary imprisonment is guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Third Geneva Convention, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Magna Carta.vii Rights to equality before the law, equal access to the protection by law and to legal remedies for the prevention and punishment of violations is guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. viii Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz issued an Order creating the Combat Status Review Tribunals to review the enemy combatant status of Guantánamo Bay detainees, on July 7, 2004, nine days after the U.S. Supreme Court in Rasul et al v. Bush et al, ruled that United States courts had jurisdiction to consider challenges to the legality of the detention of foreign nationals captured abroad and incarcerated at Guantánamo Bay.ix The Military Commissions Act (MCA) was drafted and subsequently passed by Congress in October 2006 after the U.S Supreme Court ruled in Hamdan v Rumsfeld that the military tribunals created by Bush’s November 13, 2001 order were not legal under U.S. law even as a means of trying non-Americans.x The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, article 40(2)(a), the Third Geneva Convention, Article 99.xi Denial of fair trial is a war crime pursuant to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Article 8(2)(iv), and the Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Act.


posted for lawyers against the warjune 13, 2007current signatures as of july 3, 2007bulletinsnorth american political prisoners: guantanamo
gerald and maas night's lantern

I now post an article from the Edmonton Sun by Michael Coren who apparently is unaware of the issues raised above. Notice the assinine opening in which instead of dealing with the issues Coren sarcastically criticises the videos as entertainment. Sorry you can't expect our supreme court to release tapes of agents torturing suspects! Coren apparently has never heard of an irrelevant argument. Most of this crapola has nothing to do with whether Khadr's rights are violated but about how his mommy and family are so evil. Coren omits the son who served as a US spy. Apparently Khadr twice urinated on a photo of his family. Maybe the videos would make Coren happier if they included scenes from Khadr expressing his feelings about mommy et al.


July 19, 2008
Khadr video flops
No sympathy gained for young combatant
By MICHAEL COREN
fctAdTag("bigbox",MyGenericTagVar,1);

I have to be blunt. I'm disappointed. Perhaps the sequel will be superior and I suppose we have to be generous to a fairly inexperienced director and cast, but I thought the Omar Khadr video would be better than it turned out to be. A little like the latter Star Wars -- unfulfilled promise.
Actually the whole thing backfired, in that it was supposed to break our hearts and make us angry at the awful Americans who dared to keep a sort of Canadian in prison on suspicion of terrorism and of throwing a hand grenade that killed one of their medics.
Problem is, it showed a well-fed, well-nourished, obviously defiant and healthy young man blubbing and moaning and claiming, rather absurdly, that he has no feet or eyes.
"You do have feet" replied a tolerant Canadian agent, "they're on the end of your legs."
The only valid criticism of the United States is that this young man should have faced a trial by now. If, however, he had been in prison just a few miles away from Guantanamo on Cuba he would have been beaten to death in one of Castro's death camps. If he had been captured by friends of his family in Afghanistan or Iraq he likely would have been raped, tortured and then slowly decapitated. Irony's a funny old thing.
If there has been any abuse over the years it is clearly at the hands of Khadr's own kin. As the highly respected clinical psychologist Dr. Marty McKay told the Children's Aid Society back in 2004 when Omar's mother, Maha Elsamnah Khadr, came to Canada, "I am sure that you would agree that counselling one's child to become suicidal or homicidal constitutes emotional child abuse, leading to physical abuse when the child acts upon these feelings."
And this is precisely what the good woman has done, often and in public.
ADDICTS AND GAYS
She has also, of course, loudly expressed her hatred for western culture and condemned Canada as a vile place where all children are drug addicts or homosexuals. She said she did not want such a fate for Omar or for her other son Karim, who suffered spinal damage after a firefight with the Pakistani soldiers who killed her terrorist husband.
The man may have suffered a different fate if the invincibly naive Jean Chretien had not, in 1995, personally pleaded with the late Benazir Bhutto, then Pakistani prime minister, to release Ahmed Khadr from prison and allow him to come to Canada. He didn't stay long -- there was work to be done with international Islamic murder gangs.
In 2004 the Khadr matriarch was brought back to Canada even though the family had lost several Canadian passports. Hey, it happens. They were flown business class from Pakistan. Hey, it happens. On public money. Hey, it happens.
Well, it happens to some people. Especially if they have friends within special interest groups and can convince credulous liberals who hate America more than they love truth and justice.
Omar Khadr is a tenuous Canadian at best, unlike most newcomers to the country who love it with pride and passion. If we feel sorry for him and his family, consider the family of the young medic smashed beyond recognition that horrible day six years ago. Good Lord, most people don't even know his name. But they know the name of Omar Khadr.