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Omar Khadr to be freed on bail while awaiting appeal

[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/ ... 64945?cid= ]

Federal government says it regrets 'that a convicted terrorist has been allowed back into society'

CBC News Posted: May 07, 2015 9:59 AM MT| Last Updated: May 07, 2015 11:33 AM MT

EXCERPT:

"We are disappointed with today's decision, and regret that a convicted terrorist has been allowed back into Canadian society without having served his full sentence," said a statement from Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney's office.

"Omar Khadr pleaded guilty to heinous crimes, including the murder of American army medic Sgt. Christopher Speer."

(Lawyer) Edney was quick to criticize the Harper government's handling of the Khadr case challenging the government to show him where he's wrong in his assessment of Khadr.

"My view is very clear," said Edney, "Mr. Harper is a bigot. Mr. Harper does not like Muslims."

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Convicted terrorist Omar Khadr granted bail

[ http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/edm ... story.html ]

Sean Fine and Mike Hager EDMONTON — The Globe and Mail

Published Thursday, May. 07 2015, 10:05 AM EDT Last updated Thursday, May. 07 2015, 1:04 PM EDT

Omar Khadr is now free to start deciding what type of life he wants to live.

Justice Myra Bielby of the Alberta Court of Appeal granted the controversial 28-year-old convicted terrorist bail Thursday morning, reaffirming the ruling from a lower court.

"Khadr's case is, to say the least, unusual," Justice Bielby said before announcing her decision. "There's a first time for everything."

The Canadian government had asked her to stay Mr. Khadr’s release, pending an appeal of the bail order. It said the release could cause irreparable harm to Canada’s relationship with the United States, and to Canada’s repatriation of prisoners held in foreign jails.

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The Canadian government has not shown evidence that Mr. Khadr is a danger to public safety, and a lower court found that he had been a model prisoner. Justice June Ross of the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench said bail is a Canadian right, and while Mr. Khadr is in jail in Canada, he is covered by Canadian law.

MORE:

[ http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/edm ... story.html ]


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Iran warns citizens of dangerous Canada

[ http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2 ... 02881.html ]

By BRIAN LILLEY, Parliamentary Bureau Last Updated: November 18, 2010 12:35pm

OTTAWA — Iran is warning its citizens not to come to Canada out of fear of widespread Islamophobia sweeping the country.

A story posted on the website of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting news agency states the foreign ministry in Iran issued the warning earlier this week. The agency claims crime rates in Canada have soared recently and Iranian nationals may fall victim to this new crime spree.

The government of Iran is warning its citizens to take extra precautions if they visit Canada.

The Iranian government also claims Muslims in Canada are being denied “social and political rights” and police are not following up on complaints filed by Iranians in this country.

MORE:

[ http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2 ... 02881.html ]

Gracious, respectful Omar Khadr confounds Harper government stereotype: Walkom

[ http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015 ... alkom.html ]

The man Prime Minister Stephen Harper loves to demonize reveals himself to be remarkably human.

This is not the Omar Khadr that the Harper government wants us to see. It prefers a world that is black and white, where the bad guys are terrorists who commit heinous crimes and the good guys are one-dimensionally heroic, writes Thomas Walkom.

By: Thomas Walkom National Affairs, Published on Fri May 08 2015

By simply seeming reasonable, Omar Khadr has confounded Stephen Harper.

The former Guantanamo Bay inmate could have reacted bitterly Thursday when, after almost 13 years in detention, he was finally allowed out on bail.

He could have echoed his lawyer, Dennis Edney, and called the prime minister an anti-Muslim bigot.

Captured on the Afghan battlefield when he was 15, Khadr could have asked why successive Liberal and Conservative governments didn’t live up to their treaty obligations to protect child soldiers.

He might have questioned why Ottawa actively participated in Guantanamo Bay interrogations that Canada’s Supreme Court later declared illegal and coercive.

He might have had harsh words for the roughly 60 per cent of Canadians who, if the polls were correct in 2012, didn’t want their fellow citizen back in Canada.

But on Thursday, speaking to reporters outside his lawyer’s Edmonton home, the man the Conservatives call a dangerous terrorist did none of this.He was calm, gracious and respectful.

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This is not the Omar Khadr that the Harper government wants us to see. It prefers a world that is black and white, where the bad guys are terrorists who commit heinous crimes and the good guys are one-dimensionally heroic.

Government ministers, and the prime minister himself, refer to the fact that Khadr pled guilty to war crimes, including murder.

They neglect to point out that he made this plea at Guantanamo Bay before a deeply flawed U.S. military commission armed with powers that no regular American or Canadian court is allowed.

They neglect to point out that the alleged war crimes for which Khadr was convicted, including killing an enemy soldier in battle, are not in fact war crimes.

They neglect to point out that Khadr, quite understandably, was willing to agree to anything that would get him out of Guantanamo Bay.

On Friday, Harper was asked about Khadr.

He gave the government’s boilerplate response. Khadr, he said had pled guilty to very grave crimes; Ottawa’s thoughts and prayers were with the victims.

In the past, that response might have sufficed. Now that Canadians have had a chance to see and hear Omar Khadr in person, it no longer does.

Khadr himself said it best Thursday, when he was asked about the prime minister’s characterization of him.

“I’m going to have to disappoint him,” replied the man the Harper government loves to hate.

“I’m not the person he thinks I am.”

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Thomas Walkom's column appears Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.