Human Rights Law

GITMO teen's interrogation tape to be released this mornig...

By Lisa Lockwood

Mandated by a high court ruling, the defense lawyers representing Omar Khadr have been given and will release 7 1/2 hours of videotaped interrogation tomorrow. Khadr was arrested at 15 and held in Gitmo, where he remains today.

While Khadr's supporters have claimed for years he was tortured in custody, his lawyers say the latest revelations have finally caught the attention of a Canadian public that's growing less willing to sacrifice human rights in the name of national security.

It seems that Canadians are sick of their government participating in America's illegal torture/detention practices, and their courts agree.

Some background on Omar, from CBS:

(CBS) Omar Khadr seems an unlikely poster boy for the war on terror. Khadr is a Canadian citizen, he likes Harry Potter, and he was only 15 years old when he was captured by the U.S. Army in Afghanistan. And that's what makes his case so controversial: his age.

SNIP

The U.S. accuses Omar Khadr of murdering an American soldier, conspiracy, spying and more, all done, they say, when he was just 15 years old. Khadr has been detained in Guantanamo Bay for five years, much of it in a maximum security prison, in a cell with no windows, awaiting a military trial. His lawyers say that due to his age when he was taken prisoner, he should have been considered a child soldier and shouldn't be there at all.

As correspondent Bob Simon reports, Omar Khadr is the only person in modern history to be charged for war crimes he allegedly committed while a minor.

From the Canadian Press:

The release of the video, expected Tuesday, comes amid fresh accounts of abuse the Canadian teen suffered at the hands of his American captors that appear to have finally touched a public nerve in Canada.

Documents released under Canadian court order last week show the teenager had been subject to sleep deprivation and other abuse to soften him up for interrogation.

A summary of the videotaped interrogations indicates Khadr at times cried uncontrollably. At one point, he took off his shirt to show bullet wounds, one of them still seeping blood.

"I lost my eyes," Khadr is cited as telling his interrogator, an indication that his vision was affected when he was shot.

A ten minute "highlight" portion of the film is scheduled to be released at 5:00 AM Tuesday, with the entire 7 1/2 hours of video to be released later in the day. Khadr's attorneys have stated that by releasing the tapes, they are seeking to stir public outcry and pressure on the Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, to demand the US release Omar back to Canada. So far, Harper has refused to intervene on Khadr's behalf.

GRAPHIC PHOTO WARNING.....

Omar at the time of his capture:

UPDATE....

More on Omar's case, from CTV:

To U.S. authorities, he's a dangerous killer who made his own decisions and must be held accountable for killing Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer, 28, who left behind a wife and two children.

"He could have surrendered," said John Bellinger, top legal adviser at the State Department. "He did make certain choices."

For activists, Khadr's as much of a victim as Speer and Sgt. Layne Morris, who was nearly blinded during the firefight.

"We have a kid who was dragged to meet al Qaeda leaders from the age of 10, sent to military training camps at age 15 and then out to the battlefield to be shot at," said Jennifer Daskal at Human Rights Watch.

"He hardly qualifies as the worst of the worst," said Daskal, adding his case should be moved to U.S. federal court.

So it seems that Omar remains in his solitary confinement cell in GITMO, awaiting he knows not what. His attorneys, now armed by the Canadian High Court, have the videos and will use them. They're plan is to release the first ten minutes as a "highlight" reel, and then let the rest of the 7.6 hours of tape be released sometime later in the day.

Full post as published by Never In Our Names on July 15, 2008 (boomark / email).