Khadr returns to court to plead for changes to his bail conditions

EDMONTON Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr appeared in an Edmonton courtroom Thursday, seeking changes to bail conditions that would allow him to see his sister and travel freely.

Khadr has been on bail since his release in April 2015. He pleaded guilty in October 2010 to five war crimes, including the murder of U.S. special forces soldier Christopher Speer when he was 15, but later said he entered the plea only to escape imprisonment at Guantanamo Bay.

Khadr, who is now 32, was back in the Court of Queen’s Bench in Edmonton Thursday to apply for changes to his bail conditions, which were imposed while he appeals the war crime convictions by a U.S. military commission.

Justice June Ross reserved her decision until next Friday.

“When I initially asked for bail, I didn’t expect it to take this long,” Khadr said outside court. “My sentence initially should have ended this past October, but here I am. The Canadian government has put this court in a position where it has to enforce a judgment and a ruling that was derived from torture, the same torture that the Canadian government has apologized for.

“This is not the first time my life has been held in suspension, and I’m going to continue to fight this injustice, and thankfully we have an actual court system that has actual rules and laws,” he said. He did not take questions. Khadr sat in the gallery of the court, among reporters and a class of about 20 high school students there to watch the proceedings.

His lawyer, Nate Whittling, submitted an application to vary bail conditions. The defence has made a number of such applications since his release, beginning in September 2015.

Whittling says Khadr wants fewer conditions on contact with his sister, Zaynab Khadr, and the ability to apply for a passport. Zaynab Khadr has spoken in favour of al- Qaida and was investigated in Canada more than a decade ago for helping the terrorist network, but she was never charged.

Whittling said the U.S. appeal process hasn’t budged since Khadr was last before the court a year ago.

“We knew it would take awhile,” Whittling said. “We didn’t know it would be this slow.”

“Mr. Khadr should not be required to live under these conditions indefinitely.”

He submitted a letter from Khadr’s probation officer, who said there has not been “even a whisper of a breach” by his client.

“In essence we’re saying Mr. Khadr is a model of compliance.”

Whittling said the delays were part of the “Guantanamo Bay system.”

Khadr wants to be able to travel freely, his lawyer said, including to one day visit Mecca as part of the hajj pilgrimage that is a religious duty for Muslims. He has travelled numerous times within Canada to see his family in Toronto, Whittling said, and has properly sought permission from his bail supervisor each time.

Whittling said he would soon apply to get Khadr’s bail changed to parole pending the U.S. appeal, saying he is “entitled” to a parole hearing but that he has not been given one at this point because he is no longer in custody.

“This is an unusual legal question, but our view is, quite clearly, he’s entitled to a parole application despite the fact he’s not actually in custody.” Unlike bail, “parole would end,” he said.

Provincial Crown Prosecutor Doreen Mueller acknowledged Khadr has not breached any bail conditions, and that they appreciate the issues with the delayed appeal.

But she said the underlying convictions “are serious ones” and that the existing conditions are appropriate.

Federal Crown Bruce Hughson also opposed the variation, saying Khadr has pleaded guilty to five serious offences.

He said choosing a suspended sentence under bail conditions was the route the defence choose to go down.

He said Khadr is allowed to talk to his sister, believed to be living with her husband and family in the country of Georgia, and that conditions on such conversations have been relaxed since his release.

Now, all that is required is the presence of someone approved by his supervisor — he mentioned Khadr’s wife — and that the conversation take place in English.