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Canada government will not seek Khadr repatriation

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Wednesday that the Harper administration will not seek the repatriation of Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr. Cannon said that while the government is considering options to remedy the violation of Khadr's constitutional rights, it will not press for his return because he faces charges in the US. Spokesperson for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Dimitri Soudas, affirmed that this decision does not represent a shift in the government's policy toward Khadr, who is set to go before a US military commission in July on numerous charges for allegedly throwing a grenade that killed a US army medic. This announcement follows last week's ruling, which held that the interrogation of Khadr by Canadian officials while in detention violated section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Canadian officials questioned Khadr, who was captured at age 15, despite knowing that he was being indefinitely detained and had been subjected to sleep deprivation by US authorities. Still, the court held that forcing the government to press for Khadr's return was not an appropriate remedy, as such an order would overreach the court's authority. The ruling overturned a Federal Court of Appeals decision, which upheld a lower court order requiring the federal government to seek Khadr's repatriation.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on February 05, 2010 (boomark / email).