The Trudeau government will offer an apology and compensation of at least $ 10 million to child soldier Omar Khadr for the abuse he suffered while being imprisoned for terrorism at the US military prison in Guantánamo, Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star .
The Supreme Court of Canada recognized in 2010 that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) officers had violated the rights of Omar Khadr when they interrogated him at the Guantánamo base, while the youth believed that They had come to help him. According to the Court, the Government of Canada violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and deprived fundamental principles of justice of an individual who was only a child at the time.
For example, Ottawa will finally make a formal apology to Mr. Khadr this week and offer him a $ 10 million compensation, the Globe and Mail reported , who obtained information from a government source. According to the Toronto Star , Mr. Khadr will receive more than $ 10 million.
Mediation
Omar Khadr, who was in Guantánamo military prison for a decade, followed by three years in prison in Canada, regained his freedom almost two years ago. In a civil suit against the federal government, he claimed $ 20 million in damages.
“But what we are looking for most is an apology from the government, which has abandoned a child in an infernal hole, denounced by the international community, which has done nothing to help it, and which continues to Nothing, ” La Presse told lawyers Dennis Edney at the end of April. The next mediation session was scheduled for the end of June, and everything suggests it was conclusive.
In the past, M e Edney won three cases at the Supreme Court. He has been defending Mr. Khadr for 14 years, and he has been able to negotiate his repatriation to Canada. The lawyer had exhausted his own savings to defend the child soldier, and it was he who welcomed him on his release from prison.
A long nightmare
Now 30, Omar Khadr was only 15 when he was captured during an American strike in Afghanistan in 2002. He was seriously wounded on one shoulder by a shrapnel and partially lost view. He was sent to Guantánamo Prison, where he was subjected to torture and degrading treatment, despite the international law of child soldiers. The youngest inmate who stayed at Guantánamo finally pleaded guilty to charges of war crimes and support for terrorism as part of an amicable settlement that allowed him to return to Canada.
Other cases
The compensation that will be offered to Omar Khadr is similar to that given to Maher Arar, one of the Canadians delivered after September 11, 2001 to Syria, where he was imprisoned and tortured. Blanched on the whole line, he received 10.5 million in 2006. Last March, Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Elmaati and Muayyed Nureddin, who had been imprisoned in Syria and Egypt, were also offered apologies and financial compensation for the From Ottawa.