OTTAWA: An appeals court delayed Tuesday the release of former Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr from a Canadian jail in order to mull arguments that doing so would cause irreparable harm to Canada’s diplomatic relations.
A final bail decision in the case has now been pushed to Thursday.
Canadian-born Khadr was 15 years old when he was captured on an Afghan battlefield in 2002 and sent to the US prison in Cuba.
In 2010, he was sentenced to eight years following a US military hearing in which he agreed to plead guilty to murdering a US soldier in violation of the laws of war, attempted murder, conspiracy, providing material support for terrorism and spying.
As part of the agreement, he was also sent home to Canada in 2012 to serve the remainder of his sentence.
Last month, the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta granted the now 28-year-old Khadr bail pending the outcome of an appeal of his war crimes conviction before a US special military court.
The court was scheduled to decide Tuesday afternoon on Khadr’s release conditions, but that hearing was pre-empted by Ottawa seeking an emergency stay of bail.
The Crown argued before the Alberta Court of Appeal that the lower court lacked jurisdiction to release Khadr and that setting him free risked jeopardising the pending transfers of an estimated 300 other Canadian prisoners from foreign jails.
The harm to Canada would be “significant and far-reaching,” federal Crown lawyer Bruce Hughson was quoted by public broadcaster CBC as saying in court.
Khadr’s defence attorney, Dennis Edney, who has invited his client to stay at his home in Edmonton, Alberta, called the Crown’s arguments “smoke and mirrors.”
He also expressed frustration over the delay, telling reporters: “Of course, I would like to grab him (Khadr), throw him in the car, take him home. My wife has been preparing dinner for (us) tonight.”
But he added, “We’ve been in every court there is in the land and back again. And so, we have a lot of patience.”
If Khadr’s bail is upheld by the appeals court Thursday after 13 years in detention, according to Canadian media, he could still face restrictions on his movements, electronic monitoring, and have to put up a Can$5,000 (Dh15,059; $4,100) guarantee.
