Epic injustice for child soldier
THE Guantánamo prisoner Omar Khadr has been repatriated to Canada, after more than 10 years of patently unlawful American detention. Here's a chronology of his life.
After a year of stonewalling, the Canadian government has
agreed to the return of a citizen who is apparently the first person convicted
in a military trial for simply killing an enemy combatant - an act that has
always been regarded as lawful in war (see post of November 2010).
Omar Khadr's offences seem as much political as military.
In 2002, a child of 15, he found himself, at his father's
direction, in an Afghan house that exchanged fire with US soldiers. He had
little choice but to defend himself, but an American died.
That a Canadian should actively resist American soldiers
offended both governments: he must be punished, and so he was sent to
Guantánamo.
All "terror" detentions at Guantánamo have been
unlawful, one way or another.
No prisoner has been provided the independent prisoner of
war determination required by both the Geneva Conventions and the US Uniform
Code of Military Justice.
All have been detained and/or treated in ways that
violate multiple international treaties. Omar Khadr's case is one of
injustice on an epic scale.
It's hard to know where to start.
First, he was a 15 year old boy caught in a war on his
father's initiative. Both Canada and the US seem to have forgotten they are signatories
to the "Child Soldier Protocol" that provides that children engaged
in war should be regarded as victims whose rehabilitation is paramount.
READ THE FULL REPORT HERE....
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