A FORMER GUANTANAMO Bay inmate convicted of killing a U.S. soldier will be released on bail after a judge refused a last-ditch attempt by the Canadian government to keep him jailed.
Court of Appeal Jutice Myra Bielby didn’t agree with the government’s emergency request to stop Omar Khadr release’s while he appeals his US war crimes conviction.
A lower court judge granted him bail last month.
“Mr Khadr you’re free to go,” Bielby said before cheers erupted in the court room.
Toronto-born Khadr spent a decade in the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Since 2012 he’s been held in Canada, serving out an eight-year sentence handed down by a U.S. military commission in 2010.
He was convicted of war crimes, including throwing a grenade when he was 15 years old that killed U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer in Afghanistan during a 2002 firefight
Khadr was once the youngest detainee at Guantanamo, arriving there at age 15. He is now 28.
Khadr’s long-time lawyer Dennis Edney and wife have offered to take him into their home. Among the bail conditions imposed were that Khadr wear a tracking bracelet, live with the Edneys, observe a curfew between 10pm and 7am, and have only supervised access to the Internet. Also, he can communicate with his family in Ontario only while under supervision and only in English.
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