serum114

Title
Canadian Becomes First Child Soldier Since Nuremberg To Stand Trial For War Crimes

Link
Canadian becomes first child soldier since Nuremberg to stand trial for war crimes - Americas, World - The Independent
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Excerpt

An inmate at the US-run Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba is set to be the first child soldier to go on trial for war crimes since Nuremberg, after a military judge ruled that there were no legal obstacles preventing the camp’s special military commissions from prosecuting him.

Omar Khadr, a Canadian national, was 15 at the time of his alleged crimes. His defence team said his age should see him treated as a victim and rehabilitated, rather than prosecuted as a war criminal. He has had no access to education while at Guantanamo, where he has spent more than a quarter of his life.

But in a brief ruling which has now been made public, the military judge Peter Brownback rejected the plea, paving the way for trial and a new chapter in Guantanamo’s history. He said international laws dealing with the treatment of child soldiers were “interesting as a matter of policy”, but they did not prevent the military commission set up to try the Guantanamo inmates prosecuting Mr Khadr, who is now 21.

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Comment:

What's next???

__________________

The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.
Hunter S. Thompson

lollipop

Sorry I haven't followed this story but why/how did Khadr, a Canadian end up in the possession of the US?

serum114

__________________

The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.
Hunter S. Thompson

BillCosby

Sad day in America & the world...........

bush fiddles as he sinks the nation to new depths.....

__________________
Preventive war is not war!!!!Counter-terror is not terror

serum114

Isn't this distorted morality disturbing?? If a 15 year old kid was to have sex with his teacher it's the teachers fault but if the same kid is in a war zone he's a war criminal and being forced into that was his decision and his decision only.

__________________

The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.
Hunter S. Thompson

BillCosby

Damn good point...................

Not like the kid had a choice to even be there. His parents took him there............

& the brave proud Canadians keep the MF mouths shut.............

__________________
Preventive war is not war!!!!Counter-terror is not terror

serum114

Guantanamo Judge Threatens To Halt Canadian Case
by Randall Mikkelsen
GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba - A Guantanamo war court judge threatened on Thursday to halt the case of a Canadian terrorism suspect captured at age 15 if the U.S. government fails to turn over records of his detention.

The judge, Army Col. Peter Brownback, ordered prosecutors to give a classified daily prison-camp log to the military attorney for Omar Khadr, who is now 21 and facing trial on charges of throwing a grenade that killed a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan in 2002.

Khadr and his lawyer say he was mistreated by his U.S. captors and coerced into making incriminating statements. On Thursday, Brownback set a May 22 deadline for the prosecutors to obtain and hand over the log, referred to as “Binder 2,” kept by the Guantanamo prison commanders.

He called it an essential hour-by-hour record of Khadr’s treatment. “On the 22nd, you all will give them a copy of Binder 2. If you don’t have it then at 1700 hours (5 p.m.) on the 22nd, we stop,” he said.

Halting pretrial proceedings in the case, which is being followed intensely in Canada, would embarrass the U.S. government. Washington is fighting criticism about years-long delays in establishing a workable and fair trial system for prisoners captured in the war on terrorism launched by the United States after the September 11 attacks.

A halt could also lead to dismissal of one or more charges against Khadr, in a case seen as a test run for later trials against accused September 11 conspirators.

ABUSE ALLEGED

“The government has been beating on the military judge like a drum to set a trial date,” Brownback said. But he said he could not until disputes over evidence and other issues are resolved. So far the task force running the prison has been unwilling to surrender the daily log.

Khadr is charged with murder, attempted murder, conspiring with al Qaeda, providing material support for terrorism and spying on U.S. military convoys in Afghanistan. He faces life in prison if convicted.

Khadr’s lawyer, Navy Lt. Cmdr. William Kuebler, said, “This (case) is largely going to be about the reliability of statements that Mr. Khadr made while in detention.”

Khadr was abused in Afghanistan while being interrogated by a U.S. soldier who was later court-martialed after the death of another prisoner there, Kuebler said. He added that Khadr was threatened with punishment at Guantanamo if he did not abide by his Afghanistan statements.

He said a U.S. Army investigation in 2006 ended after it began to uncover evidence that would corroborate Khadr’s accusations that, for example, his arms were chained to a wall while he was held at the U.S. Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and was still recovering from gunshot wounds to the back and chest. An earlier Navy probe did not support the allegations.

Khadr, sporting a short, full beard and wearing a white uniform supplied by the U.S. military to signify his compliance with camp rules, sat between his lawyers at the defense table for Thursday’s hearing. He is the last Western citizen to be held at Guantanamo and, unlike other detainees facing trial, he is cooperating with the process.

The Canadian government is facing increasing domestic and international calls to press the U.S. government for Khadr’s release.

__________________

The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.
Hunter S. Thompson

BillCosby

Very interesting turn...........

I wonder what happens if the those records are lost like a lot of those tapes & emails etc...........

__________________
Preventive war is not war!!!!Counter-terror is not terror

serum114

Hard to say for sure but the scales of justice will probably favor the government. Since they kind of make up the rules as it goes along.

__________________

The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.
Hunter S. Thompson

Richterscale

It bothers me that in this case, and so many others, prosecutors, or defendants, are given weeks or months to do something as simple as retrieve a file. This is a process that should tale no longer than the amount of time it takes to make a phone call, photocopy the file and shove it into an envelope. Any extra time invites foul play.

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