Omar Khadr walks free on bail after 13 years in custody
After 13 years of incarceration, after torture and abuse, after being abandoned by his own government, Omar Khadr is finally freed.
“Mr. Khadr you’re free to go,” Alberta judge says in denying Ottawa its emergency motion. Ottawa condemns the release of ‘convicted terrorist.’ Khadr first tastes freedom at 2:03 p.m. Toronto time.
I was going to write a long post on Omar Khadr, and his long, terrible history. Of how as a boy, he was swept up into his family’s politics, and dragged through hell both at Bagram Air Base, and Guantanamo Bay. Of how the Canadian government not just turned their backs on a 15 year old boy, but were complicit in his torture. But I’m not sure I have the competence to do justice to the twists and turns of Khadr’s life. So I will just put some links at the bottom of this post for those who want to explore more about this story. Suffice it to say, I’m very glad this day has finally come.
Dennis Edney, one of the Canadian lawyers who has represented Omar Khadr for many years, spoke with passion after Khadr won bail following 13 years in prison.
A prize-winning journalist tells the troubling story of Canadian Omar Khadr.
He was a child of jihad, a teenage soldier in bin Laden’s army. Captured on the battlefield when he was only fifteen, he has been held at Guantanamo Bay for the past four years — subjected to unspeakable abuse sanctioned by the president himself.